Diretas Já

Diretas Já

Diretas Já demonstration in São Paulo on April 16, 1984.
Date	March 1983 – April 1984
Location	Major cities throughout Brazil
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.
Outcome	Indirect election of Tancredo Neves and approval of a Constituent Assembly

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

Participants

The 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, Dante de Oliveira, José Serra, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Eduardo Suplicy and Leonel Brizola. 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. Football team Corinthians, already well known for activism with their Corinthians Democracy movement, printed "Diretas Já" on the back of their jerseys. Sectors of the Catholic Church, as well as other religions, also supported the movement.

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 organized members of the PMDB party in the city, 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 a deepening 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 the National Renewal Alliance Party (ARENA), the pro-government party, when the Democratic Social Party (PDS) was founded.

The following year, the movement gained critical mass and was able to mobilize openly. On the anniversary of the city of São Paulo (January 25), the first major assembly of the campaign for direct elections for president took place on Praça da Sé, a major public square adjacent to the São Paulo Cathedral, was made possible by André Franco Montoro, governor of São Paulo.

By this time the Military Regime had lost much prestige with the majority of the population. Low ranking members of the military, whose wages had fallen in real terms due to inflation, began voicing 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 in the Anhangabaú Valley, where an estimated crowd of over 1.5 million people attended, in the largest political demonstration ever seen in Brazil.

During April 1984, President Figueiredo increased press censorship and promoted arrests and police violence. Nonetheless, a vote on the Diretas Já amendment (known as Dante de Oliveira law, after its author) took place on April 25, 1984. Despite 298 votes in favor, with 65 against, 112 pro-government deputies abstained, leaving the Chamber without a quorum, as a result of which the bill died.

Despite the bill's failure, the movement became 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 direct presidential elections in 1989, which were won by Fernando Collor de Mello, the 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 in 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 included the participation of Juan Carlos Quintana, an alleged spokesman of Raúl Alfonsín. It was later discovered that he was an agent of the dictatorship, who 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 march of the Diretas, going from Candelária to Cinelândia.
February 17, 1984	Recife, Pernambuco	12,000	A march took place.
February 18, 1984	Manaus, Amazonas	6,000	—
February 19, 1984	Capão da Canoa, Rio Grande do Sul	50,000	A march 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 march took place, from Candelária to Cinelândia.
March 22, 1984	Campinas, São Paulo	20,000	It was only a music concert, without any political speeches.
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 the Novembrada, a confrontation between the military police and students, had occurred four years earlier.
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 march from Praça da Sé to Vale do Anhangabaú followed the event. It was the largest public demonstration in the history of Brazil at that time.

See also

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

External links

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