This military regime would last for two decades from 1964 to 1985. Several presidents ruled during this period and the governments were formed by military and civil members. Since it was a military dictatorship they would censor all types of opposition and people related with the ilegal communist party.
In terms of economic measures a growth was experienced mainly because some important companies were nationalised and made public. When Dilma Rousseff achieved the presidency in 2011 investigations were made and it was found that 434 people had died just for being part of the dissident movement against the regime. At the beginning of the regime, military rulers were popular among the population because of the social economic measures applied.
In 1967 a Constitution was created which,indeed, changed the military regime. Indirect elections were implied in which citizens could vote candidates to be part of the government of the nation and other public charges.
During this period, very important companies were created that helped the brazilian economy to grow. In 1961 TAM, the biggest airline in South America was created and also mining companies like VALE to exploit all the mineral resources that the country has. the county of Rio Grande is a very rich territory on coal. Other natural resources like wood were exploited. This is nowadays regulated.
You can find more information about Brazil's history in this article:
https://www.studycountry.com/es/guia-paises/BR-history.htm
https://www.flickr.com/photos/transiciones/6326407368
These 20 years of dictatorship ended when president Neves, who had been elected in the indirect elections in 1985, restored the civil rights and freedoms. This transition would become a fact with the Constitution of 1988 when direct elections and all types of freedoms of democracy were restored.
It was in 1989 when Brazilians citizens were able to vote again since 1930 in free democratic elections. President Collor de Mello was elected but he would turn down on his charge three years later giving the power to Itamar Franco. President Franco is one of the most important political figures in the recent history of Brazil mainly because of the creation of the Real Plan.
In the year 1991, the Mercosur was created. This was a treaty that involved the principal countries of South America (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile). This economic treaty was signed as a measure of the brazilian government to externalize its activities and create a more open economy. This treaty would allow the free trade of imports,capital, services and labor between the state members.
Useful links where the transition is explained:
http://historiaeconomica97.blogspot.com/2015/11/brasil-comentario-economico-politico_16.html
https://www.observatoriomercosur.org.uy/libro/pasado_autoritario_y_democracia_en_brasil_22.php
It was first applied in June 1993 just right a year after president Franco, who was the vice president, got the power from Collor de Mello, who got fired after being involved in a corruption case. At this time, the country was submerged in a really bad crisis with an inflation up 1,119%. It had been like that for almost 30 years.
The economy secretary who promoted this economic plan was Fernando Cardoso and it brought economic stability to the country for the first time in many years. It is with this plan when the protectionism that the state was giving to its economy and to national companies ended. The brazilian economy changed into a more open one and exports of different types of raw materials to countries around the world. Some important companies were privatised in order to balance the accounting plan of the government in that moment were the public debt was really high. From 1992 and all the way to 1995 Brazil achieved a massive reduction of the inflation they had thanks to the foreign capital that was being invested in those years. One important consequence of this reduction was that the currency which at the time was the Cruzeiro changed to the Real that is active now. In the moment of the change, the exchange rate between both currencies was 250 cruzeiros per each Real.
One of the policies that was part of the Real Plan designed by Cardoso and Franco had to do with the deposits that people had in the country. Interests were increased to prevent a massive exit of capital to other countries.
All these measures had a good impact during the first years of the plan but then unemployment started growing as a consequence of the high interest rates applied to companies. National companies were also hurted because of the openism of the the brazilian economy to other countries. These companies could not compete with the international companies that would sell products at a lower price. Furthermore, the Real was devaluating really quickly because investors were losing its confidence in Brazil. in 1998 the situation of the country was so bad bad that they had to be rescued by the FMI with a 40000 million aid. The inflation of the currency rose and the fiscal policies of the FMI had to be applied. In the following years, the growth of the GDP was really small and slow until Lula da Silva was elected as president of the Republic.
This articles were read in order to gather information for this entry:
http://historiaeconomica97.blogspot.com/2015/11/brasil-comentario-economico-politico_16.html
https://prodavinci.com/como-pudo-brasil-detener-un-proceso-de-inflacion-galopante-cronica-del-plan-real/
https://www.yorokobu.es/real-brasil/
Lula da Silva became president of Brazil on 2003. He was considered as leftist politician since the beginning of its political career when he would oppose to the military dictatorship. It is probably the most popular and beloved president that Brazil has ever had. He based his tenure on impling social measures to reduce poverty among the people of Brazil.
He focused specially on changing the situation of poverty. Around 30 million of brazilians started being part of the middle class a poverty was left with very low ratios. The main target of this new government was to empower the middle class by giving better services and better living conditions.The GDP per capita grew because more people were entering the labor market. National companies were helped by the government and protectionist measures were applied. The industrial and the financial sector also grew considerably mainly because the prices of natural resources had rose. Since Brazil is very rich in natural resources, a lot of investors came to Brazil and brazilian companies were exporting worldwide. The inflation that the country had with its currency started decreasing and the 40000 debt from the crisis in the 90’s was paid to the FMI.
Many of the people that were close to Lula and Lula itself were, after a few years of having left the presidency of the country, found guilty of political corruption for having benefit from a company that was given public contracts by the government. Lula was sentenced to 12 years of prison. The Public company Petrobras was also involved in corruption cases related with Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff.
However, when Lula left the government in 2011, around the 80% of the population had approved his tenure. In fact, Brazil did not suffer much the effects of the 2008 economic crisis because at the moment, the brazilian economy was one of the strongest in the world.
At the moment,Brazil is the most powerful economy in South America and it is ranked the 6th in the world based on GDP per capita. Its population in 2017 is over 200 million. Brazil has had its bigger growth between the years of 2002 and 2015 during most of Lula da Silva’s tenure. Brazil’s main businesses are and have been for a long time the agriculture first, Brazil is the world’s first producer and exporter of coffee and sugar, and the industrial sector since the country has lots of natural resources being the main ones the steel, aluminium and coal. Brazil is the world’s second main exporter of steel in the world.
Information about Lula da Silva was obtained from these articles:
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-42812596
https://www.cetri.be/Balance-de-ocho-anos-de-gobierno?lang=fr
https://es.portal.santandertrade.com/analizar-mercados/brasil/politica-y-economia
https://www.elmundo.es/mundodinero/2002/12/27/Noti20021227122240.html
