Companies and Dictatorship, the Other Side: Economic Groups Persecuted by the Brazilian Civil-Military Regime: The case of Contractors

Abstract

Thisarticle analyzes the relationship between companies and the Brazilian dictatorship established after the 1964 coup d’état. Instead of focusing on the more common instances of support, partnership, and leverage between economic groups and the regime, we examine companies which were persecuted and penalized by state actions following the coup. To support our approach, we draw on a range of sources, including memoirs, testimonies, official documents, and press materials from the period. Building on Dreifuss’ insights and recent historiography, we argue that the 1964 coup d’état and the subsequent dictatorship had a class character, marked by significant participation and responsibility of the business community. In the first part of the article, we examine well-known cases, such as Panair, TV Excelsior and the newspapers Correio da Manhã and Última Hora. We then turn to lesser-studied cases involving public works contractors who suffered decline due to political reasons after the 1964 coup d’état. We conclude that, more than simple actions of an authoritarian state against economic groups, the cases we analyze suggest competition between companies and state action in favor of some to the detriment of others.

Keywords
Companies; Brazilian dictatorship; public works contractors