From 1973 organized as a sub-district named in so-called "homage" to former Brazilian military dictator Emílio Garrastazu Médici, who had been appointed as president by the military junta, the region was elevated to full municipal status in 1981. The dictator had actively supported "coups d'état" against democratically elected governments in Lyndon Johnson-era Brazil (1964) and Richard Nixon-era Chile (1973), both actively promoted and supported by the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Telephone &amp; Telegraph Corp. Despite his repressive rule, which included press censorship and even torture of guerrillas and left-wing civilians resisting his dictatorship, Médici remained relatively popular in some parts of Brazil because his rule coincided with a period of rapid economic growth.