- Carlos Lacerda
Carlos Frederico Werneck de Lacerda (
April 30 ,1914 –May 21 ,1977 ) was aBrazil ianjournalist andpolitician .Born in
Rio de Janeiro , Lacerda was the son of a family of politicians fromVassouras ,Rio de Janeiro State .When he was a law student, Lacerda became sympathetic to Communist ideas, but by the 1940s he had transformed into a staunch anti-communist.
He started his journalism career at "Diário de Notícias" (English: "News Daily") in 1929. In 1949 he founded the
newspaper "Tribuna da Imprensa" (English: "Press Tribune").Starting his political career in 1947, Lacerda was elected to the legislative chamber (
city council ) of the city ofRio de Janeiro . In 1950 he was elected a UDN party representative for the state of Rio in the Chamber of Deputies. He became well-known for his opposition of the government ofPresident Getúlio Vargas , even demanding Vargas' overthrow.He survived an
assassination attempt in August 1954 which became known as the crime ofRua Tonelero . The attempt is widely believed by historians to have been made by men acting under the orders ofGregório Fortunato , "O Anjo Negro" (Portuguese for "The Black Angel"), a Black man who was the head of Vargas' personalbodyguard s.Brazilian Air Force Major Rubens Vaz was killed in the attempt and Lacerda was slightly injured. This sparked a political crisis that culminated with thesuicide of Vargas.Lacerda was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies later in 1954 with the most votes of any candidate. He also opposed the government of President
Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira .Lacerda was elected governor of
Guanabara State (Rio de Janeiro city) in 1960. His administration was praised for his efforts to solve some chronic problems of Rio such as water services,public transportation andhousing .An opinionated and controversial politician, Lacerda was involved in the crisis of the resignation of President
Jânio Quadros in 1961 and conspired against the presidency ofJoão Goulart . Hoping to be elected president in the 1965 elections, Lacerda initially supported the militarycoup d'état of 1964 and was nominated the UDN candidate. Since the military was not willing to give up power, the 1965 elections were cancelled and Lacerda began to oppose the regime. In 1968, due to his efforts to restoredemocracy in Brazil by allying with his old enemies Kubitschek and Goulart, Lacerda was arrested for a brief period and stripped of his right to run for political office for 10 years. After that, he retired from politics and resumed his journalism and publishing career. In 1977 he died suddenly in Rio de Janeiro.Biographical reference
*Dulles, John W. F. "Carlos Lacerda: Brazilian Crusader". Austin: University of Texas, 1996.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
