Background
Emílio Garrastazu Médici was born of a family of modest landowners on 4 December 1905 in Bage.
government official military president
Emílio Garrastazu Médici was born of a family of modest landowners on 4 December 1905 in Bage.
He entered military school in 1918 in Porto Alegre and ultimately graduated from the Rcalango Military School in Rio de Janeiro.
He moved up the military hierarchy, attaining the rank of general in 1961.
When General Artur Costa e Silva became president in 1967, he appointed Médici to direct the Servido Nacional de Inteligencia (SNI). which is equivalent to the American Central Intelligence Agency except that it also functions inside Brazil. Then, with the death of President Costa e Silva in August 1969, the army resolved that General Médici would be his successor. On October 25, 1969, the Brazilian Congress carried out the orders of the army, voting 239 for Médici, with 76 abstentions.
In the first years of his administration, left-wing elements intensified efforts to bring down the military regime, and the government increased repressive measures, using torture and imprisonment. Various army units were very successful and on November 4, 1969, succeeding in killing Carlos Marighela, considered one of the leading terrorists. Leftist terrorists were not the only victims. Over 4,000 were arrested in November 1971 for alleged subversion, including Catholic Church activists.
Economic development plans were in the hands of a civilian economist, Joáo Paulo Reis Velloso. The regime stressed expansion of the infrastructure, modernization of agriculture, and development of manufactured exports. Some people dubbed the results “the Brazilian miracle.”