Ernesto Geisel

Ernesto Geisel (1978)

Ernesto Beckmann Geisel [ eɾˈnɛstu ˈbɛkmɐ̃ ˈɡajzew ] (born August 3, 1908 in Bento Gonçalves RS , † September 12, 1996 in Rio de Janeiro ) was President of Brazil during the military dictatorship of the 1970s.

Life

Geisel was the son of the German immigrant Wilhelm August Geisel, who emigrated to Brazil from Herborn in 1883 at the age of 16 . The family originally came from Kronberg im Taunus . Ernesto Geisel went through military training and was one of the best students at the military academies of Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro . In 1930 he was promoted to first lieutenant. In the same year he also supported the military coup of Getúlio Dornelles Vargas .

Under the new regime, hostage held a number of military and civilian posts, e.g. B. in the government of the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba .

In 1945, Geisel again played an important role in the military coup in which Vargas was overthrown. Then Geisel was Secretary General of the National Security Council and military attaché at the Embassy in Uruguay . From 1957 he was representative of the military in the National Oil Council. In 1960 he was promoted to brigadier general and after the coup d'état of 1964 he was military chief under the government of Humberto Castelo Branco . From 1967 he served as Minister for the Supreme Military Court and from 1969 as President of Petrobrás , the state oil company.

When the term of office of President Emílio Garrastazu Médici came to an end, hostage was his "Crown Prince" and was elected by parliament on January 15, 1974. The opposition had no way of getting their candidate into position because the election committee was provided by the ruling Arena party. During Geisel's presidency, the military leadership began a slow abertura (opening), although Geisel continued to maintain strong state control.

In 1974, elections to the legislative bodies were allowed and the opposition won more seats than ever before. On the other hand, Geisel used his great power to knock out opposition parliamentarians and get his laws through parliament when he saw it necessary. Thus, he struck a middle ground between democratic freedoms and military rule. In 1977, for example, he ratified the Falcão Law , according to which the governors of the states were elected indirectly, and which allowed the constitution to be changed with a simple parliamentary majority.

In the economic field, Brazil maintained its great growth. The policy of "pragmatic nationalism" promoted local industry.

At the end of Geisel's term of office, the censorship and torture of political prisoners were abolished and Law AI 5 of 1968, which established the state of emergency, was repealed (on December 31, 1978).

After the end of his presidency in 1979, Geisel worked in the management of a private chemical company until 1991.

Web links

Commons : Ernesto Geisel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Ernesto Geisel in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

predecessor	Office	successor
Emílio Garrastazu Médici	President of Brazil 1974–1979	João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo