Current Intelligence Weekly Summary

Approved for Release: 2026/03/06 C03176167
;EeRET/
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY SUMMARY
he knows it is essential to the
country's future to work with
the United States.
During this same period,
however, Goulart insisted on
meeting with Cuban President
Dorticos immediately prior to
the Punta del Este conference,
gave no sign of breaking with
his pro-Communist labor allies,
and replaced an anti-Communist
with a neutralist as head of
Brazil's politically important
petroleum monopoly, Petrobras.
Moreover, Goulart has taken no
action against Communists in the
governmental structure.
lhe Return of Quadros
Quadros' return to Brazil
on 7 March has been generally
interpreted as a challenge to
Goulart. Quadros apparently
hopes next October to win elec-
tion to congress—-or a key gov-
ernorship—-and then to become
prime minister, but his long-
awaited television address on
15 March was widely appraised
as meaningless bombast and
evoked little favorable re-
sponse.
Quadros, however, has on
previous occasions recovered
completely from seeming polit-
ical oblivion, and for this
reason open opposition to him
in Brazil is likely to be re-
strained. In a campaign for
federal deputy--which he would
almost certainly win because of
the proportional representation
system——he may generate consid-
erable support from continuing
opponents of the regime and
from those who support the be-
lief-—widely attributed to Qua-
dros--that Brazil needs a dic-
tatorship. V
Status of Parliamentary $ystem
The failure thus far of
parliamentary government to
take firm root was highlighted
on 15 March by President Gou-
lart's public request to congress
to hold a national plebiscite on
whether to continue the system.
Goulart almost certainly con-
ceived his request as an effort
to blunt Quadros' effort to be-
come prime minister.
If prospects appear favor-
able for continuing the parlia-
mentary system, the entire cab-
inet may resign soon, since,
according to the constitution,
cabinet ministers may not run
for congress unless they resign
at least three months prior to
elections. Most of the incum-
bent ministers were chosen be-
cause they held seats in the
Chamber of Deputies, and they
can be expected to seek re-
election even if their resig-
nations threaten the country's
political stability.
Under the parliamentary
system, elections to the lower
house will be harder fought than
previously, since this house is
the source from which ministers
are most likely to come and is
the body with power to oust the
Council of Ministers. Gains in
popularity made by leftist na-
tionalist forces in Brazil in
recent years could be reflected
in a substantial increase and
possible control by this element.
Foreign Relations
The Goulart government,
like that of Quadros, seeks to
appeal to Brazilian nationalism
by demonstrating that its for-
eign policy is independent of
US policy. Formulation of spe-
cific policies appears to be in
the hands of Foreign Minister
San Tiago Dantas——in the 1930s
a high official of Brazil's
fascist Integralista party and
more recently the intellectual
leader of the leftist Labor
PflPtY- The‘ regimefi has not
gamer’
23 Mar 62 SPECIAL ARTICLES Page 2 of 8
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