Diretas Já

Diretas Já
Diretas Já demonstration in São Paulo on April 16, 1984.
Participants	Tancredo Neves, Leonel Brizola, Miguel Arraes, Ulysses Guimarães, André Franco Montoro, Dante de Oliveira, Mário Covas, Gérson Camata, Iris Rezende, Orestes Quércia, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Eduardo Suplicy, Roberto Freire, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, among others.
Location	Major cities throughout Brazil
Date	March 1983—April 1984
Result	Indirect election of Tancredo Neves and approval of a Constituent Assembly

Diretas Já (Portuguese pronunciation: [diˈɾɛtɐʃ ˈʒa], Direct (Elections) Now) was a civil unrest movement which, in 1984, demanded direct presidential elections in Brazil.

Participants of the movement

The Diretas Já movement brought together diverse elements of Brazilian society. Participants came from a broad spectrum of political parties, trade unions, civil, student and journalistic leaderships. Politicians involved included Ulysses Guimarães, Tancredo Neves, André Franco Montoro, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Mário Covas, Teotônio Vilela, José Serra, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Eduardo Suplicy and Leonel Brizola among others. Besides politicians, the movement also included artists such as Milton Nascimento, Fernanda Montenegro, Gilberto Gil, Bruna Lombardi, Fafá de Belém, and Chico Buarque de Holanda. Journalists such as Henfil, Osmar Santos and Eliel Ramos Maurício covered the assemblies for periodicals Diário de Sorocaba and Folha de Itapetininga. Sectors of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as other religions, also supported the movement.

Location of the first public protest

The first public protest for the Diretas occurred in the emancipated town of Abreu e Lima, in Pernambuco, on March 31, 1983. Periodicals of the state of Pernambuco, at the time, organized members of the PMDB party in the city, which were followed by protests in the capital of the state of Goiás, Goiânia, on June 15, 1983, as well as the Charles Miller Plaza, in front of Pacaembu Stadium, on November 27, 1983 in São Paulo.

Economic situation

The growth of the movement coincided with the aggravation of an economic crisis (with an annual inflation of 239%,in 1983). This led to the mobilization of class entities and unions. The movement linked representatives from diverse political backgrounds under the common cause of direct elections for president. Many pro-status quo politicians, sensitive to their base, had also formed a block of disagreement within "ARENA", the pro-government party, when PDS was founded.

In the following year, the movement gained critical mass and was able to mobilize itself openly. On the anniversary of the city of São Paulo (January 25), the first great assembly of the campaign for direct elections for president was made possible by André Franco Montoro, then-governor of São Paulo, on Praça da Sé, a major square in downtown São Paulo.

By this time the Military Regime had lost a great deal of prestige with the majority of the population. Low ranking members of the military, with their wages diminished due to inflation, started to voice their discontent to their superiors.

On April 16, shortly before the vote in Congress which would enable direct elections for president, a final demonstration took place in São Paulo. Afraid that the Praça da Sé would prove too small, Anhagabaú Valley was chosen, where an estimated crowd of over 1.5 million people attended, in what was the largest political demonstration ever seen in Brazil.

During the month of April of 1984, then-president Figueiredo promoted the so-called Pacote de Abril (April Package), increasing the censorship on the press and promoting arrests and police violence. Nonetheless, the Diretas Já amendment (known as Dante de Oliveira law, after its author) was voted on April 25, 1984. Despite a vote of 298 in favor, with 65 against, the abstention of 112 pro-government deputies forced the rejection of the bill due to a lack of quorum.

Despite the bill's failure, the movement proved to be a catalyst for various opposition forces and a voice for popular discontent. The re-democratization process ended with the return of civil power in 1985 and the approval of a new constitution in 1988, which called for the first direct presidential elections in 1989. Brazil then elected Fernando Collor de Mello, its first democratically elected president since 1961.

Assemblies

This is a partial list in chronological order of the Diretas Já demonstrations:

Date	Location	Number of participants	Notes
March 31, 1983	Abreu e Lima, Pernambuco	—	As the first public event of Diretas Já, the number of participants was not high.
June 15, 1983	Goiânia, Goiás	5,000	It took place on Praça do Bandeirante.
June 26, 1983	Teresina, Piauí	—	—
August 12, 1983	Pernambuco	—	It took place on several cities of the state.
November 27, 1983	São Paulo, São Paulo	15.000	On this date, Senator Teotônio Vilela died.
December 9, 1983	Ponta Grossa, Paraná	1.000	—
January 5, 1984	Olinda, Pernambuco	—	—
January 12, 1984	Curitiba, Paraná	40,000	This event counted with the participation of Juan Carlos Quintana, an alleged spokesman of Raúl Alfonsín. It was later discovered that he was an agent of the dictatorship infiltrated in order to give the impression that the movement began under international influence.
January 20, 1984	Salvador, Bahia	15,000	—
January 21, 1984	Vitória, Espírito Santo	10,000	—
	Campinas, São Paulo	12,000	—
January 25, 1984	São Paulo, São Paulo	300,000	It took place on Praça da Sé.
January 26, 1984	João Pessoa, Paraíba	10,000	—
January 27, 1984	Olinda, Pernambuco	30,000	—
January 29, 1984	Maceió, Alagoas	20.000	It took place on Praia da Pajuçara.
February 16, 1984	Belém, Pará	60,000	—
	Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro	60,000	It was the first parade of the Diretas, going from Candelária to Cinelândia.
February 17, 1984	Recife, Pernambuco	12,000	A parade took place.
February 18, 1984	Manaus, Amazonas	6,000	—
February 19, 1984	Capão da Canoa, Rio Grande do Sul	50,000	A parade took place.
	Osasco, São Paulo	25,000	—
	Rio Branco, Acre	7,000	—
February 20, 1984	Cuiabá, Mato Grosso	15,000	—
February 24, 1984	Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais	300,000	—
February 26, 1984	São Paulo	—	Public events in 300 cities of the state.
	Aracaju, Sergipe	30,000	—
February 29, 1984	Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais	30,000	—
March 8, 1984	Anápolis, Goiás	20,000	—
March 21, 1984	Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro	200, 000	Another parade from Candelária to Cinelândia takes place.
March 22, 1984	Campinas, São Paulo	20,000	It was only a music concert, without any political speech.
March 23, 1984	Uberlândia, Minas Gerais	40,000	—
March 24, 1984	Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul	40,000	—
March 29, 1984	Florianópolis, Santa Catarina	20,000	It took place outside the same church where four years earlier the Novembrada, a confrontation between the military police and students, occurred.
April 2, 1984	Londrina, Paraná	50,000	—
April 6, 1984	Natal, Rio Grande do Norte	50,000	—
April 7, 1984	Petrolina, Pernambuco	30,000	—
April 10, 1984	Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro	1,000,000	It took place outside the Candelária Church.
April 12, 1984	Goiânia, Goiás	300,000	It took place on Praça do Bandeirante.
April 13, 1984	Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul	200,000	—
April 16, 1984	São Paulo, São Paulo	1,500,000	A parade from Praça da Sé to Vale do Anhangabaú succeed the event. It is the largest public demonstration of the History of Brazil.

See also

• 1964 Brazilian coup d'état
• History of Brazil (1964-1985)

External links

• (Portuguese)Folha de São Paulo Assembly of "Diretas-Já"
• (Portuguese)"Diretas-Já" O Estado de São Paulo
• (Portuguese)"Diretas-Já" Abril Cultural