Fear and Memory in the Brazilian Army and Society, 1889-1954 by Shawn C. Smallman

Author:Shawn C. Smallman [Smallman, Shawn C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Latin America, General, Political Science
ISBN: 9780807860502
Google: 9wKtCQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Published: 2003-04-03T03:13:59+00:00

The Changing Terms of the Struggle

The terms of the debate between the two factions had changed during the period from 1948 to 1951. Both sides had always attempted to define the struggle on their terms, to attract support, and to thwart attacks. By making the issue petroleum rather than economic defense, Horta Barbosa had defeated the hierarchy. One can hear the frustration in his opponent’s voice: “The problem is that the things are never presented with the aspect of Communism. One speaks of the problem of petroleum, of nationalism, I don’t know what. They are sound ideas, when they don’t pass certain limits. The false nationalism is a danger. On that occasion, then, there was a crazy false nationalism.”66 As the Cold War continued, however, the debate came to take place less over petroleum development than over international relations, and this shift placed Estillac’s faction at a disadvantage, as Nelson Werneck Sodré later argued.

In 1950, Sodré stated, the Military Club’s program had attracted support from people with different views. But when the Military Club defended the Korea article, it opened itself to intense criticism from both the army and the press. The Military Club became a major political issue in Brazil—the subject of countless articles, editorials, and interviews—because the debate was framed by the Cold War. In this environment the hierarchy no longer had to argue the merits of its program: “And they didn’t address the question. Even in the case of Korea. They didn’t state, for example, that it was necessary to send troops to Korea. They only stated the following: ‘They are Communists, they are Communists’—this was the refrain. So they didn’t enter into the merit, but they situated the signboard. And we helped them! We helped with our errors.”67 Sodré believed that a needless position had harmed the career of numerous officers, including Estillac. Henrique Miranda agreed: “It was an imprudence beyond telling! Because they delivered themselves to the reactionaries!”68 Without this error, Miranda told an interviewer, it would have been far harder for Estillac’s enemies to have defeated him. Nonetheless, it was not the article that made foreign relations the new focus of conflict. As the Cold War increasingly shaped officers’ perception of the world, this transformation was inevitable.

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