Carlos Lacerda
Encyclopedia
Carlos Frederico Werneck de Lacerda (April 30, 1914 – May 21, 1977) was a Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

.

Born in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, Lacerda was the son of a family of politicians from Vassouras
Vassouras
Vassouras is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Its population was 33,206 and its area is 552 km².Vassouras is known for its colonial-era coffee farms, including Fazenda Santa Eufrasia ....

, Rio de Janeiro State.

When he was a law student, Lacerda became sympathetic to Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 ideas, but by the 1940s he had transformed into a staunch anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...

 conservative.

He started his journalism career at Diário de Notícias (English: News Daily) in 1929. In 1949 he founded the newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 Tribuna da Imprensa (English: Press Tribune).

Starting his political career in 1947, Lacerda was elected to the legislative chamber (city council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...

) of the city of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

. In 1950 he was elected a UDN
National Democratic Union
The National Democratic Union was a political party that existed in Brazil between 1945 and 1965. It was ideologically aligned with the right-wing and conservatism, being considered the precursor of the current Democrats...

 party representative for the state of Rio in the Chamber of Deputies
National Congress of Brazil
The National Congress of Brazil is the legislative body of Brazil's federal government.Unlike regional legislative bodies – Legislative Assemblies and City Councils -, the Congress is bicameral, composed of the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies .The Senate represents the 26 states and...

. He became well known for his opposition of the government of President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

 Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas served as President of Brazil, first as dictator, from 1930 to 1945, and in a democratically elected term from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the most for any President, and second in Brazilian history to Emperor Pedro II...

, even demanding Vargas' overthrow.

He survived an assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

 attempt in August 1954 which became known as the crime of Rua Tonelero
Rua Tonelero
Tonelero is the name of a street located in the neighborhood of Copacabana in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where an assassination attempt took place against Carlos Lacerda, the main adversary of President Getúlio Vargas...

. The attempt is widely believed by historians to have been made by men acting under the orders of Gregório Fortunato, O Anjo Negro (Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 for "The Black Angel"), a Black man who was the head of Vargas' personal bodyguard
Bodyguard
A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...

s. Brazilian Air Force
Brazilian Air Force
The Brazilian Air Force is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Army and Navy air branch were merged into a single military force initially called "National Air Forces"...

 Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 Rubens Vaz was killed in the attempt and Lacerda was slightly injured. This sparked a political crisis that culminated with the suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 of Vargas.

Lacerda was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies later in 1954 with the most votes of any candidate. He also opposed the government of President Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira
Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira
Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira , known also by his initials JK, was a prominent Brazilian politician of gypsy Czech origin who was President of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. He was born in Diamantina, Minas Gerais, and died in 1976...

.

Lacerda was elected governor of Guanabara State
Guanabara State
The State of Guanabara was a former Brazilian state that existed from 1960 to 1975. It comprised the city of Rio de Janeiro, after the national capital was moved to Brasília in 1960...

 (Rio de Janeiro city) in 1960. His administration was praised for his efforts to solve some chronic problems of Rio such as water services, public transportation and housing.

An opinionated and controversial politician, Lacerda was involved in the crisis of the resignation of President Jânio Quadros
Jânio Quadros
Jânio da Silva Quadros , , was a Brazilian politician who served as President of Brazil for only 7 months in 1961.-Career:...

 in 1961 and conspired against the presidency of João Goulart
João Goulart
João Belchior Marques Goulart was a Brazilian politician and the 24th President of Brazil until a military coup d'état deposed him on April 1, 1964. He is considered to have been the last left-wing President of the country until Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in 2003.-Name:João Goulart is...

. Hoping to be elected president in the 1965 elections, Lacerda initially supported the military coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

 of 1964 and was nominated the UDN candidate. Since the military was not willing to give up power, the 1965 elections were cancelled and Lacerda began to oppose the regime. In 1968, due to his efforts to restore democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

 in Brazil by allying with his old enemies Kubitschek and Goulart, Lacerda was arrested for a brief period and stripped of his right to run for political office for 10 years. After that, he retired from politics and resumed his journalism and publishing career. In 1977 he died suddenly in Rio de Janeiro.

He is also mentioned in the book, "Child of the Dark", The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus

Biographical reference

  • Dulles, John W. F. Carlos Lacerda: Brazilian Crusader. Austin: University of Texas, 1996.
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