Orlando hostage

General Orlando hostage

Orlando Geisel (born September 5, 1905 in Estrela , Rio Grande do Sul , † May 30, 1979 in Brasília ) was a Brazilian general and politician who, among other things, was in 1966 commander of the III. Army, between 1966 and 1968 Chief of Staff of the Army , from 1968 to 1969 Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and from 1969 to 1974 Minister of the Army.

Life

Military training and uses as an officer

Orlando Geisel was the son of Augusto Guilherme Geisel and his wife Lídia Beckmann Geisel, as well as the older brother of Ernesto Geisel , who was Brazilian President between 1974 and 1979 . After visiting the Colégio Militar in Porto Alegre , he began his officer training at the Escola Militar do Realengo in Rio de Janeiro in February 1923 and was taken on as a lieutenant in the artillery force in December 1925 . In January 1928 he was promoted to first lieutenant and took part in the October 1930 revolution as chief of a battery in the Cachoeira do Sul garrison . After Getúlio Vargas took office , he was deputy commander of the 6th fortress artillery regiment in Cruz Alta from August to October 1931 and then between November 1931 and January 1932 deputy commander of the 3rd independent artillery group stationed in Bajé. In July 1932 he took part in the battle of the Revolução Constitucionalista de São Paulo and was then again deputy commander of the 3rd Independent Artillery Group , where he was promoted to captain in February 1933 .

Geisel was then a deputy instructor between February 1938 and November 1940 and then an instructor at the General Staff School (Escola de Estado-Maior) . He was promoted to major in December 1941 and to lieutenant colonel in March 1945 , and in May 1946 took over the post of commander of the 1st Howitzer Group 155, which he held until June 1947. After that he was Deputy Chief of Section 3 of the General Staff of the Armed Forces between June 1947 and December 1949. He then became deputy military attaché at the embassy in the USA and then completed a general staff and commanding course in the USA from February 1950, where he was promoted to colonel in January 1952 . On his return he was head of cabinet of the Directorate for Automation between April and December 1952 and then director of the teaching group of the General Staff School from 1953 to 1955, before he became commander of the 1st automatic cannon group in January 1956.

Promotion to general and chief of the general staff

Orlando Geisel was then from 1956 to 1957 Deputy Commander and Acting Commander of the Command and Staff School of the Army ECEME (Escola de Comando e Estado-Maior do Exército) seconded and was in October 1957 the Ministry of Finance, where he in April 1958 Brigadier was promoted . In July 1959 he became Chief of Staff of the 1st Army stationed in Rio de Janeiro , whose commander was Marshal Odylio Denys . In February 1960 he became head of cabinet of Marshal Odylio Denys, who had now taken over the office of Minister of War (Ministro da Guerra) . He held this post until September 1961 under the new Minister of War João de Segadas Viana , who had taken over this post in January 1961. In March 1964 he was promoted to major general (General de divisão) and in April 1964 took over the function of commander of the 1st Infantry Division (1ª Divisão de Infantaria) , which was stationed in Vila Militar near Rio de Janeiro. He was also chairman of the special commission for army reform and in May 1964 commander of the 1st military region (1.ª Região Militar) , where he was promoted to general (General de exército) in November 1965 .

After Geisel was the successor of General Rafael de Sousa Aguiar from November 1965 until his replacement by General Hugo Panasco Alvim in May 1966, he succeeded General Joaquim Justino Alves Bastos as commander of the III. Army (III Exército) from. He held this position until he was replaced by General Álvaro Alves da Silva Braga in November 1966. He himself in turn replaced General Décio Escobar as Chief of Staff of the Army (Chefe do Estado-Maior do Exército) and held this post until March 1968, whereupon General Adalberto Pereira da Costa was his successor. He then took over in March 1968 from General of the Air Force (Tenente-brigadeiro) Nélson Freire Lavanére-Wanderley as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces EMFA (Ministros-chefe do Estado-Maior das Forças Armada)

After it became apparent in August 1969 that President Artur da Costa e Silva could no longer rule for health reasons, he took part in the meetings of military representatives who decided that a military junta under War Minister Aurélio de Lira Tavares , Aviation Minister Márcio de Souza Mello and Naval Minister Augusto Hamann Rademaker Grünewald was to take over the official business of the President on August 31, 1969 and Vice President Pedro Aleixo was deposed as constitutional successor.

Army Minister 1969 to 1974

Orlando Geisel's younger brother Ernesto Geisel was Brazilian President between 1974 and 1979

After Emílio Garrastazu Médici had assumed the office of President on October 30, 1969, Geisel was replaced as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces by Admiral (Almirante-de-esquadra) Murillo Vasco do Valle e Silva . He himself in turn replaced Aurélio de Lira Tavares on November 3, 1969 as Minister of the Army (Ministro do Exército) and held this office until the end of Medici's tenure on March 15, 1974. When his younger brother Ernesto Geisel became the new President, General Vicente de Paulo Dale Coutinho took over the office of Minister of the Army.

Despite his retirement from active military service, Orlando Geisel had a significant influence on personnel decisions during his brother's presidency. After the murder of journalist Vladimir Herzog on October 25, 1975 and worker Manuel Fiel Filho on January 17, 1976 by employees of the Internal Operations Department of the Center for Internal Defense Operations DOI-CODI (Destacamento de Operações de Informação - Centro de Operações de Defesa Interna) of the Second Army, he contributed to the fact that the commander of the II Army, General Ednardo Dávila Melo, was replaced by Dilermando Gomes Monteiro and placed in reserve after he had refused to be employed in the Army Education and Research Department . On the other hand, he participated in the dismissal of Army Minister Sílvio Frota in October 1977.

He was married to Alzira Torres Geisel and had two children.

Web links

• Biography on the homepage of the Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação de História Contemporânea do Brasil

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Brazil: Army Ministers (rulers.org)