Brazilian Military Junta

A Military Junta or "Junta Militar" ruled Brazil from August 31 to October 30, 1969, between the sudden illness of the President Artur da Costa e Silva and the oath of Emílio Garrastazu Médici. At that time, Brazil was in the peak of a dictatorship, and civilians were not allowed to rule the country. Pedro Aleixo, Costa e Silva's civilian vice-president, was prevented from becoming acting president. The Junta was composed of the Ministers of the three forces: General Aurélio de Lyra Tavares, Admiral Augusto Hamann Rademaker Grunewald and Brigadier Márcio de Souza e Mello.

The Military Junta was formed by the Minister of the Navy, the Minister of the Army, and the Minister of the Air Force. There was no chairman of the junta, and all official acts of the Junta were jointly signed by its three members. While General Lyra Tavares, as representative of the Army, the most powerful branch of the Armed Forces in the operation of the regime, is believed to have been the main decisionmaker within the Junta, no formal precedence was assigned to its members, so as to preserve the principle of equality of the branches of the Military. In official documents of the Junta, its members were always mentioned in the order of antiquity of each branch of the Armed Forces. Thus, the representative of the Navy was always mentioned first, followed by that of the Army, and then by that of the Air Force, which led some to believe that Admiral Rademaker was first among equals in the workings of the Junta.

ee also

* List of Presidents of Brazil,
* History of Brazil (1964-1985)