Sarney recalls taking office: 'I was a man beaten down by the unexpected'

Maranhão 247 - In an article published this Sunday, former president José Sarney recalls the drama of his inauguration as president of the Republic, at the moment when Tancredo Neves was undergoing surgery in Brasília. Read below:

Thirty years: history twists and turns.

Memory doesn't retain the moment, the atmosphere, the emotion. Today, March 15, 1985, is just a date, the source of so many judgments and interpretations. Time is a human invention, and round dates seduce us into constructing the past.

In Brazil's history, we have had moments of great inflection. But that date will be judged in the future as a moment when history took a turn. It marks the end of a period characterized by revolutions, coups d'état, militarism—the merging of political power with military power—and the establishment of a mass democracy, the likes of which the country had never known. A Social State of Law, the full exercise of citizenship, individual liberties, and social rights.

Those alive today will never be able to fully grasp what was at stake on that night of March 14th to 15th. Nine hours before taking office, the abdomen of Tancredo Neves, the president-elect, began to be opened at the Hospital de Base in Brasília. Little did they know that his ordeal and agony were about to begin.

Reality imitated fiction. The country was stunned. Politicians, bewildered, had no mobilized group. They met impromptu in the Chamber and the Senate. Dinners organized in anticipation of the celebration turned into disorientation and sadness. The Minister of the Army informed the Chief of Staff, Leitão de Abreu, that he would return to his command post and launch an action to interrupt the long transition process.

In the midst of all this, two men emerge, demonstrating great public spirit and the ability to manage crises: Ulysses Guimarães and Leônidas Gonçalves.

When, overcome with deep emotion and emerging from a depression I had hidden from the country for several months, and completely focused on Tancredo's human plight, I told Ulysses that I did not wish to assume the role alone, he, sharply and showing his mettle as a great leader, told me: "This is no time for sentimentality, Sarney. We have duties to the nation. Such a long process of struggle for institutions cannot die because of our indecision."

General Leônidas, already chosen as Minister of the Army, moved on to concrete actions: "We are going to Leitão de Abreu, not to discuss the succession, but to say that tomorrow, at 10 am, the vice-president, as determined by the Constitution, will take the oath before Congress and assume the Presidency until Tancredo's recovery."

And so he did, in the company of Ulysses and Senators José Fragelli and Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The Senate and Chamber leadership decided in the same direction. The Supreme Federal Court, secretly convened by President Cordeiro Guerra, ruled that this was the path of the Constitution.

When I was informed of the conclusions at three in the morning, I was a man battered by the unexpected. I took office "with the eyes of yesterday" and faced the unknown of the years ahead.

Thirty years later, Brazilianist Ronald Schneider, who studied democratic transitions, says that Brazil's was the most successful.

The New Republic began with the motto "Everything for the social good." I faced 12 strikes, convened the Constituent Assembly, we implemented a social democracy, broke with economic orthodoxy with the Cruzado Plan, and achieved the lowest average unemployment rate in our history -- 3,59%.

The economic growth of those years has not been repeated to this day.

Today I remember Tancredo Neves. Afonso Arinos said: "Many gave their lives for the country, but Tancredo is the only one who gave his death for Brazil."

This is the story of these 30 years of social peace, alternation of power, and the presence of the proletariat in national decisions.