A Participação dos Estados Unidos no golpe de estado de 1964 no Brasil: a operação Brother Sam

Abstract

In Latin America, the twentieth century was marked by repressive and totalitarian regimes. In Brazil, torture was institutionalized and ensured a state constituted in illegality during the military regime, which began on March 31, 1964. During this period, which was also the Cold War period, Brazilian conservative groups positioned themselves with the United States in the fight against communism. Fighting this ideology was, for those who did it, defending democracy. However, it was through the justification that communism should be combated at whatever cost that the establishment of the military dictatorship was allowed. If in theory the military regime saved Brazil from the communists, in reality it guaranteed the survival of twenty-one years of an illegitimate, repressive and violent state with which the United States was conniving. In addition to recognizing the coup after it’s installation, the north american country also participated in the conspiracy that triggered it. Contingency Plan No. 2-61, which outlined possible actions in the case of "attempt to change the disposition of the brazilian regime," later gave rise to Operation Brother Sam, who provided support to brazilian conspirators. This paper examines Operation Brother Sam and its importance to the understanding of international relations between Latin America and the United States during the Cold War period. This analysis was done through the reading of official documents of the US government and literature review. The methodology used allowed it to understand that the US involvement in the conspiracy, that led to the coup of 1964 in Brazil, is configured as a mechanism for the continuity of imperial and colonial relations, by denying the right to the autonomy of subalternized peoples and by guaranteeing the interests of the internal ruling classes and the dominant sectors of the capitalist nation of the Cold War: The United States.