1964 Brazilian coup d ' état The 1964 Brazilian coup d ' état ( or , more colloquially , " " ) names a series of events in Brazil that commenced on March 31 , 1964 , and culminated in the overthrow of President João Goulart by the Armed Forces , supported by the United States on April 1 , 1964 . The coup put an end to the government of Goulart , also known as Jango , a member of the Brazilian Labour Party , who had been democratically elected Vice President in the same election that led conservative Jânio Quadros , from the National Labour Party and backed by the National Democratic Union to the presidency . Quadros resigned in 1961 , the same year of his inauguration , in a clumsy political maneuver to increase his popularity . According to the constitution then in force , enacted in 1946 , Goulart should have automatically replaced Quadros as president , but he was on a diplomatic trip to the People ' s Republic of China . A moderate nationalist , Goulart was accused of being a communist by right - wing militants , and was unable to take office . After a long negotiation , led mainly by Jango ' s brother - in - law Leonel Brizola , then governor of Rio Grande do Sul , Goulart ' s supporters and the right - wing reached an agreement under which the parliamentary system would replace the presidential system in the country , where Goulart would be named head of state . In 1963 , however , Goulart successfully re - established the presidential system through a referendum . He finally took office as president with full powers , and during his rule several structural problems in Brazilian politics became evident , as well as disputes in the context of the Cold War , which helped destabilize his government . His Basic Reforms Plan ( " Reformas de Base " ) , which aimed at socializing the profits of large companies towards ensuring a better quality of life for most Brazilians , was labelled as a " socialist threat " by the military and right - wing sectors of the society , which organized major demonstrations against the government in the Marches of the Family with God for Freedom ( " Marchas da Família com Deus pela Liberdade " ) . The coup subjected Brazil to a military regime politically aligned to the interests of the United States government . This regime would last until 1985 , when Tancredo Neves was indirectly elected the first civilian President of Brazil since the 1960 elections . Conspiracy against Jango . Jânio Quadros resigned on August 25 , 1961 . At the time of his resignation , João Goulart was in the People ' s Republic of China on a foreign relations trip . On August 29 , the Brazilian Congress heard and vetoed a motion to stop Goulart from being named president , brought by the heads of the three branches of the military and some politicians , who claimed Goulart ' s inauguration would place the country " on the road to civil war " . A compromise was reached : Brazil would become a parliamentary democracy , with Goulart as President . As such , he would be head of state , but with limited powers of head of government . Tancredo Neves was named as the new prime minister . On January 6 , 1963 , Goulart successfully changed the system of government back to presidential democracy in a referendum won by a large margin . Goulart found himself back in power with a rapidly deteriorating political and economic situation . During this period , Goulart was politically isolated , with a foreign policy which was independent of any alignment ( he openly criticized the Bay of Pigs invasion by the US , but criticized the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro during the Cuban Missile Crisis ) . The country ' s economic situation deteriorated rapidly , with attempts at stabilizing the currency being financed by aid packages from the International Monetary Fund . His failure to secure foreign investment and curb domestic inflation put the country in a difficult situation with exacerbated social conflicts . On March 13 , 1964 , Goulart gave a speech where he promised to nationalize the country ' s oil refineries , as well as carry out " basic reforms " including rent control s . This was followed by a large demonstration on March 19 , where a conservative group marched on Praça da Sé in a demonstration called " March of Families for God and Freedom " against Goulart and his policies . The Sailors ' Revolt . The friction between the military and Goulart boiled over with his intervention in a revolt by sailors of the Brazilian Navy led by José Anselmo dos Santos , historically known as Corporal Anselmo , and later exposed as an agent provocateur . On March 25 , 1964 , nearly 2 , 000 sailors assembled in Rio de Janeiro , petitioning for better living conditions and pledging their support for Goulart ' s reforms . The Minister of the Navy , Sílvio Mota , ordered the arrest of the sailors leading the assembly . Mota sent a detachment of marines to arrest the leaders and break up the assembly , led by Rear Admiral Cândido Aragão . These marines ended up joining the assembly and remained with the other sailors . Shortly after Aragão ' s refusal to arrest the leaders , Goulart issued orders prohibiting any invasion of the assembly location ( the headquarters of the local metalworker ' s union ) , and sacked Sílvio Mota as Minister of the Navy . The following day , March 26 , the Minister of Labor , Amauri Silva , negotiated a compromise , and the sailors agreed to leave the assembly building . They were promptly arrested for mutiny . Goulart pardoned the sailors shortly after , creating a public rift with the military . Soon after , on March 30 , 1964 , the day before the coup , Goulart gave a speech to a gathering of sergeant s , where he asked for the military ' s support for his reforms . The coup . The run - up . The coup was foreseen by both pro - and anti - Goulart forces . In Rio de Janeiro , Leonel Brizola , a Goulart ally ( and brother - in - law ) , had organized as far back as in October 1963 so - called " Groups of Eleven " , or groups of eleven people who would work in supporting Goulart ' s reforms , but could theoretically be converted to a form of militia to defend Goulart ' s presidency . On the other side , on March 20 , 1964 , some 10 days before the coup , Humberto de Alencar Castello Branco , chief of staff for the army , circulated a letter to the highest echelons of the military warning of the dangers of communism . On March 30 , the American military attaché in Brazil , Colonel Vernon A . Walters , telegraphed the State Department . In that telegraph , he confirmed that Brazilian army generals had committed themselves to acting against Goulart within a week of the meeting , but no date was set . March 31 . In the early hours of March 31 , 1964 , General Olímpio Mourão Filho , Commander of the 4th Military Region , headquartered in Juiz de Fora , Minas Gerais , ordered his troops to start moving towards Rio de Janeiro . The move was not coordinated with the other main generals in the plot , namely General Amaury Kruel of the 2nd Army ( based in São Paulo ) and Castello Branco , the deposed army chief of staff . The troop movement took them by surprise , as they felt it was too soon for a successful coup . Less than two hours after receiving news of Mourão ' s march , Kruel was reported saying " This is nothing more than a " quartelada " ( military adventure , from " quartel " , the Portuguese for " barracks " ) by General Mourão , and I will not join it . " In the morning , Castello Branco would twice try to stop Mourão ' s march on Rio . At the same time , news of the march had reached General Argemiro Assis Brasil , João Goulart ' s military aide , who felt confident he could put the rebellion down . As the day progressed , minor revolts and military actions ensued , such as Castello Branco ' s barricades at the Ministry of War building , and at the , in Rio de Janeiro . Despite this , the crucial support needed for the coup ( that of General Kruel ' s 2nd Army ) had not yet been implemented . At around 10 : 00PM , General Kruel called João Goulart . In the call , Kruel asked the president to break with the left - wing by sacking his Minister of Justice and Chief of Staff and outlaw the " " ( Worker ' s General Command ) , a major workers ' organization . Goulart replied that doing so would be a humiliating defeat for him , making him a " decorative president " . Goulart told Kruel : " " General , I don ' t abandon my friends . ( . . . ) I would rather stick with my grassroots . You should stick to your convictions . Put your troops out on the street and betray me , publicly . " " After the 10 : 00PM call , Kruel called Goulart twice more , repeating his demands , and receiving the same answer from Goulart . Goulart ' s attempt to countermand the Generals was disastrous . Two of his three military chiefs of staff were out of action for various reasons . His personal military aide was a newly promoted Brigadier General , General Assis Brasil . His greatest base of military support was located in his native Southern Brazil . His reaction , orchestrated by Assis Brasil , consisted of shifting a general from the southern 3rd Army to the southeast , to replace Castello Branco ( he never arrived ) . Of his other generals , in the states of Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul , four were on vacation , while two others were returning to their posts in Curitiba when they were forced to land in Porto Alegre due to bad weather , and thus away from their commands . April 1 . On April 1 , at 12 : 45PM , João Goulart left Rio for the capital , Brasília , in an attempt to stop the coup . At the same time , General Kruel and the 2nd Army began to march towards the Vale do Paraíba , between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro . In the southeast , only the 1st Army , commanded by General Âncora and based in Rio de Janeiro , had not enlisted in the coup . General Artur da Costa e Silva called Âncora and demanded his surrender . Âncora replied he would honor a promise to Jango and first meet to discuss the situation with General Kruel , who was marching in his direction . The meeting would take place later in the day at the Academia Militar de Agulhas Negras , in Resende , between Rio and São Paulo . At that meeting , Âncora surrendered the 1st Army . Goulart had no military support outside of the south . When he reached Brasília , Goulart realized he lacked any political support . The Senate president , Auro Moura Andrade , was already articulating for congressional support of the coup . Goulart stayed for a short time in Brasília , gathering his wife and two children , and flying to Porto Alegre in an Air Force Avro 748 aircraft . Soon after Goulart departed , Auro Moura Andrade declared the position of President of Brazil " vacant " . Altogether seven people would die during the events of April 1 . Casualties included two students who were shot amidst a demonstration against the troops encircling the Governor ' s palace in Recife , three in Rio and two in Minas Gerais . Aftermath . In the early hours of April 2 , Auro Moura de Andrade , along with the president of the Supreme Federal Tribunal swore in Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli , the speaker of the house , as president . This move was arguably unconstitutional at the time , as João Goulart was still in the country . At the same time , Goulart , now in the headquarters of the 3rd Army in Porto Alegre , ( still loyal to him at the time ) contemplated resistance and counter - moves with Leonel Brizola , who argued for armed resistance . In the morning , General Floriano Machado informed the president that troops loyal to the coup were moving from Curitiba to Porto Alegre , and that he had to leave the country , risking arrest otherwise . At 11 : 45AM , Jango boarded a Douglas C - 47 transport for his farm bordering Uruguay . Goulart would stay in his farmlands , until April 4 , when he finally boarded the plane for the last time , heading for Montevideo . Mazzilli would continue as president while the generals jockeyed for power . On April 11 , 1964 , General Humberto de Alencar Castello Branco was elected as president by the national congress . Upon taking power , Castello Branco promised to " " deliver , in 1966 , to my successor legitimately elected by the people , a united nation . " " In 1967 , he delivered what journalist Elio Gaspari dubbed " " a fractured nation " " to a president elected by 295 people . American involvement . The US ambassador at the time , Lincoln Gordon , and the military attaché , Colonel Vernon A . Walters , kept in constant contact with President Lyndon B . Johnson as the crisis progressed . Johnson urged taking " every step that we can " to support the overthrow of João Goulart helping the Brazilian military authorities against the " left - wing " Jango ' s government . Operation Brother Sam . Declassified transcripts of communications between Lincoln Gordon and the US government show that , predicting an all - out civil war , and with the opportunity to get rid of a left wing government in Brazil , Johnson authorized logistical materials to be in place and a US Navy fleet led by an aircraft carrier to support the coup against Goulart . These included ammunition , motor oil , gasoline , aviation gasoline and other materials to help in a potential civil war in US Navy tankers sailing from Aruba . About 110 tons of ammunition and CS gas were made ready in New Jersey for a potential airlift to Viracopos Airport in Campinas . Potential support was also made available in the form of an " " aircraft carrier " ( USS " Forrestal " ) " and two guided missile destroyers ( expected arrive in area by April 10 ) , ( and ) four destroyers " " , which sailed to Brazil under the guise of a military exercise . CIA involvement . In the telegraphs , Gordon also acknowledges US involvement in " " covert support for pro - democracy street rallies … and encouragement [ of ] democratic and anti - communist sentiment in Congress , armed forces , friendly labor and student groups , church , and business " " and that he " " may be requesting modest supplementary funds for other covert action programs in the near future . " " . A few days after the coup , a CIA official cabled Washington : " The change in government will create a greatly improved climate for foreign investments . " The actual operational files of the CIA remain classified , preventing historians from accurately gauging the CIA ' s direct involvement in the coup .