Hard Row

In the State of Pernambuco, freedom-loving Brazilian editors were finding the row of democracy hard to hoe. Items: The Journal Pequeno's outspoken editor, Osorio Borba. was caught in the net of Brazil's hated Security Tribunal; Editor Annibal Fernandes of the Diario de Per nambuco was waylaid by a goon squad.

Like many another Brazilian, Editor Borba still finds it hard to believe that the presidential elections scheduled for Dec. 2 will ever materialize. He charged General Valentim Benicio da Silva with engineering "the same political atmosphere as that of 1937 when Getulio [President Getulio Vargas] with the Army's consent . . . took over the Government." The General's prompt answer: trial before the Security Tribunal.

Editor Fernandes had incurred the enmity of Interventor (appointed governor) of Pernambuco Etelvino Lins when he printed the full story of the murder of Democrito de Souza (TIME, March 19), a student leader. In his own garden, Fernandes was knifed one night by a gang of capangas (paid cutthroats).

Cried the press: "Pernambuco is a concentration camp without fences." At week's end, Brazil's President reassuringly decreed amnesty for many of the demonstrators against his regime. To those who doubted his electoral pledge, Vargas stated solemnly: "I have promised free, honest elections. I shall preside over them with absolute loyalty."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.