Leonel Brizola

Born: 1922-01-22

Leonel de Moura Brizola (22 January 1922 – 21 June 2004) was a Brazilian politician. Launched into politics by Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas in the 1930–1950s, Brizola was the only politician to serve as elected governor of two Brazilian states. An engineer by training, Brizola organized the youth wing of the Brazilian Labour Party and served as state representative for Rio Grande do Sul and mayor of its capital, Porto Alegre. In 1958 he was elected governor and subsequently played a major role in thwarting a first coup attempt by sectors of the armed forces in 1961, who wished to stop João Goulart from assuming the presidency, under allegations of communist ties. Three years later, facing the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état that went on to install the Brazilian military dictatorship, Brizola again wanted the democratic forces to resist, but Goulart did not want to risk the possibility of civil war, and Brizola was exiled in Uruguay. One of the few Brazilian major political figures able to overcome the dictatorship's twenty-years ban on his political activity, Brizola returned to Brazil in 1979, but failed in his bid to take control of the reemerging Brazilian Labour Party as the military government instead conceded it to Ivete Vargas. Brizola founded the Democratic Labour Party on a democratic socialist, nationalist and populist platform descended from Getúlio Vargas' own trabalhismo legacy, promoted as an ideology he called socialismo moreno ("tanned socialism"), a non-Marxist, Christian and markedly Brazilian left-wing political agenda for a post-Cold War setting. In 1982 and 1990 he was elected governor of Rio de Janeiro, after a failed 1989 bid for the presidency, in which he narrowly finished third, after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In the 1990s, Brizola disputed for preeminence in the Brazilian left with future president Lula Workers' Party, later briefly integrating his government in the early 2000s. He was also vice-president of the Socialist International and served as Honorary President of that organization from October 2003 until his death in June 2004. Known for his sharp, energetic rhetoric and frank, direct style, Brizola is considered one of the most important historic figures of the Brazilian left.


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O Velho - A História de Luiz Carlos Prestes

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Released: 1997-05-07

Chronicles the life of military lieutenant, later communist militant and Brazilian politician...

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Zona Eleitoral

as Self (Archive Footage)
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Humorous short about the 1989 Brazilian presidential election.

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1964: 40 Years After

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Andança: Os Encontros e as Memórias de Beth Carvalho

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A documentary on the career of Beth Carvalho, the Brazilian singer who became a well known samba...

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The Day That Lasted 21 Years

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2012-09-30

Stunning espionage documentary on the US conspiracy that led to the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état....

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Jango

as Self
Released: 1984-10-23

The story of João "Jango" Goulart, the Brazilian left-wing president deposed by the military.

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Beyond Citizen Kane

as Self
Released: 1993-09-01

Beyond Citizen Kane (1993) is a British documentary film directed by Simon Hartog, produced by...

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Brizola, Anotações para uma História

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Released: 2024-10-07

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Muda Brasil

as Self
Released: 1985-03-18

The documentary recalls the political reopening of the country, and narrates in detail the...

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Darcy, um Brasileiro

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Released: 2013-05-19

Darcy Ribeiro was a renowned anthropologist, politician and writer. In this documentary, Maria...

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Democracia em Preto e Branco

as Himself (Archive Footage)
Released: 2014-10-18

Brazilian soccer players Sócrates, Casagrande and Vladimir lead a historic movement in sports by...

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Dossiê Jango

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2013-07-05

João Goulart (known as Jango) had been democratically elected president of Brazil, but was...

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O Evangelho Segundo Teotônio

as uncredited
Released: 1984-01-01

Passages from the life of former Alagoan senator Teotônio Vilela, with emphasis on the process...

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