Brazil At Brink Of Civil War

Press, Volume C, Issue 29608, 2 September 1961, Page 11

Brazil At Brink Of Civil War

IH.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright;

SAO PAULO (Brazil), September 1.

Brazilian naval infantry units were reported to be landing late last night on the coast of Santa Catarin State on orders from the nation’s military leaders. ' i Their purpose was to subdue troops supporting the VicePresident (Mr Joao Goulart), the Associated Press said. Mr Goulart was in Montevideo, Uruguay, deciding whether to enter south Brazil and claim the Brazilian Presidency.

A communique issued by Third Army Commander, General Jose Machedo Lopes, who has defied the central command to support Mr Goulart, said a small force landed at the port of Laguna, about 330 miles north of Porto Alegre. The communique said that there were “indications of larger landings in the region of Florianopolis, where two destroyers were sighted.”

There was no immediate reports on any battle action. Florianopolis is further north on the Santa Catarina coast.

The communique was the first substantial information in Porto Alegre of any military action against the Third Army, which is supporting

Mr Goulart for the Presidency vacated by Mr Janio Quadros, A.P. said. The landing at Florianopolis would put forces loyal to the central command south of Third Army units reported to have occupied the port of Paranagua. In Montevideo, Mr Goulart said he could fly on at any time to Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande Do Sul, his home state and centre of his support. But he said he would first talk by telephone with the Governor, his brother-in-law, before deciding his next step.

But sources close to Mr Goulart said that he would stay in Montevideo only for a short time. Yesterday Mr Goulart said: “I am returning to Brazil to assume the presidency.”

The nation’s military leadership has warned him to stay out of the country. The three military ministers—the War Minister (Marshal Odylio Denys), Admiral Silvio Heck, of the

Navy, and Brigadier Grun Moss, of the Air Forceordered the Second Army and Navy and Air Force units to “attack and dominate by force” the Third Army in Rio Grande do Sul which has defied the central command and thrown its support behind Mr Goulart. The Brazilian Navy’s 14th Task Force left Rio de Janeiro and headed south, led by a cruiser and several destroyers, a Navy communique in Rio said. The Air Force also announced .it was sending planes carrying arms and ammunition to an undisclosed location in the south.

Hours after the military leaders issued their order, it was believed that the Second Army had not moved toward Rio Grande do Sul.

Instead, the Second Army commander, General Osvaldo Araujo Motta, issued a manifesto in which he asked his men to keep confidence in the War Ministry, which he said would “respect and obey . . . the supreme decision of Congress.”

General Motta’s apparent hesitation was interpreted by A.P. as meaning he hoped a constitutional solution would be found before fighting erupted.

The forces loyal to Mr Goulart were reported not to be so hesitant.

The newspaper “Folha de Sao Paulo” said Third Army troops of General Jose Machado Lopes occupied Paranagua, only 165 miles southwest of Sao Paulo, and advanced 30 miles northward along the highway that linked Sao Paulo with Poro Alegre. But there was no confirmation of the report.

In barricaded Porto Alegre, crowds stood day and night in front of the Governor’s guarded palace, listening to loudspeakers relaying radio broadcasts of the so-called Radio of Legality rallying support of Mr Goulart. In a broadcast monitored in Buenos Aires, the Radio of Legality claimed “important desertions” from military forces previously committed to the central command. The broadcast said the desertions were taking place especially within the Fourth Army in north-east Brazil.

But the War Ministry has insisted that the only units to have defected were from General Machado Lopes' Third Army.

“Folha de Sao Paulo” said 2000 troops of the Fourth military region commanded by General Benjamin Galhardo Essee had gone over to Mr Goulart and were manning barricades in the port town of Atuba. Third Army units were reported to be on their way to Atuba to reinforce the garrison.