Making It Formal
When he took office almost three years ago, Brazil's plucky, pragmatic President Humberto Castello Branco came out against Communism, corruption and economic instability, and man aged to score some impressive successes (see WORLD BUSINESS). The way he did it angered many of his countrymen.
When he wanted a new batch of laws, he simply decreed them. When politicians irked him, he suspended their political rights. When Congress balked two months ago, he simply dissolved it. As a result, Brazilians have been wondering what will come after next March 15, when the military's hand-picked President-elect Artur da Costa e Silva takes office. More of the same? Or a gradual return to democracy? Last week they got their answer when Castello Branco released the proposed draft of Brazil's first new constitution since 1946.
It would simply formalize one-man rule in Brazil. As in Costa e Silva's election, future Presidents would be chosen by Congress, and the President would have sweeping powers, including the right to declare a "state of siege" and suspend Congress, as well as the right to issue "decree-laws" that would be submitted to Congress only after they had gone into effect. As for Congress itself, it would be barred from tampering with the budget, interfering with salary raises, and from delaying passage of various other types of presidential bills. In matters of "national security," the new constitution would also put civilians under the jurisdiction of military courts.
Though most Brazilian newspapers attacked the constitution as another step toward dictatorship, Castello Branco had no fears about congressional passage. With his proposed draft, he issued "Institutional Act No. 4," which calls Congress into extraordinary session between Dec. 12 and Jan. 24 for "discussion, voting and promulgation" of the new constitution. If Congress votes it down, the act empowers Castello Branco simply to go ahead and decree it.
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