User:BobaFentanyl/sandbox/Israeli Prime Ministers

Presidency (1974-1979)
In 1973 President Emílio Garrastazu Médici selected Geisel to be his successor as the President. There had been intense behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the hard-liners against him and by the more moderate supporters of Castelo Branco for him. Fortunately for Geisel, his older brother, Orlando Geisel was the Minister of Army, and his close ally General João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo the chief of Médici's military staff.

At that time the President of Brazil was chosen by the military and then approved by the Congress in order to give an impression of democratic elections. Geisel ran as the candidate of the pro-military National Renewal Alliance Party (ARENA). For the first time during the era of military rule, the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) actually put up a candidate in the person of longtime deputy Ulysses Guimarães. However, Guimarães knew that given ARENA's then-landslide majority in the Congress, Geisel's victory was a foregone conclusion. As expected, Geisel was elected by a vast majority (400-76, with 21 blank votes and six abstentions) and was inaugurated on March 15, 1974 for a five-year mandate.

Economy
During the Brazilian Miracle from 1968 to 1973 Brazilian economy had grown at a rate of more than 10% per year, the fastest in the world. But due to the oil shock crisis in 1974, development fell to 5–6% per year. Because much of the country's oil had to be imported, Brazil's foreign debt began to rise. This strategy was effective in promoting growth, but it also raised Brazil's import requirements markedly, increasing the already large current-account deficit. The current account was financed by running up the foreign debt. The expectation was that the combined effects of import substitution industrialization and export expansion eventually would bring about growing trade surpluses, allowing the service and repayment of the foreign debt.

President Geisel sought to maintain high economic growth rates, while dealing with the effects of the 1973 oil crisis. He maintained massive investments in infrastructure - highways, telecommunications, hydroelectric dams, mineral extraction, factories, and atomic energy. Fending off nationalist objections, he opened Brazil to oil prospecting by foreign firms for the first time since the early 1950s.

Relaxation of dictatorship
Geisel adopted a more moderate stance with regards to political opposition. Together with his Chief of Staff, Minister Golbery do Couto e Silva Geisel devised a plan of gradual, slow democratization that would eventually succeed despite all the threats and opposition from hard-liners. He replaced several regional commanders with trusted officers and labeled his political program abertura and distensão, meaning a gradual relaxation of authoritarian rule. It would be, in his words, "the maximum of development possible with the minimum of indispensable security.". In 1974 elections opposition won more votes than before. However, the torture of regime's left-wing and Communist opponents by DOI-CODI was still ongoing as demonstrated by the murder of Vladimir Herzog.

In 1977 and 1978 the Presidential succession issue caused further political confrontation with the hard-liners. Noting that Brazil was only a "relative democracy," Geisel attempted in April 1977 to restrain the growing strength of the opposition Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) party by creating an electoral college that elect the next President. In October he dismissed the far-right Minister of Army, General Sylvio Couto Coelho da Frota who had tried to become candidate for the next President.

In 1978 Geisel had to deal with the first labor strikes since 1964 and electoral victories of the opposition MDB. In late December 1978 he announced the end of the oppressive Institutional Act 5, allowed exiled citizens to return, restored habeas corpus and political rights to politicians, repealed the extraordinary powers of President, and managed election of General João Figueiredo (1979–85) as his successor in March 1979.

In 2018, an unearthed CIA memorandum from April 11, 1974 sent by William Colby to U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger details the summary executions of over 100 "subversives" which were personally authorized by Ernesto Geisel himself.

Foreign policy
In his 5 years of government, Geisel adopted a more pragmatic foreign policy. Despite being a conservative and deeply anti-communist, Geisel made significant overtures towards the communist bloc. Brazil established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China and socialist regimes of Angola and Mozambique, signaling a growing distance between Brasília and Washington. Although both countries remained allies, Geisel was keen to seek new alliances and, more importantly, new economic opportunities in other parts of the world, especially Africa and Asia.

Brazil shifted its foreign policy to meet its economic needs. "Responsible pragmatism" replaced strict alignment with the United States and a worldview based on ideological frontiers and blocs of nations. Because Brazil was 80% dependent on imported oil, Geisel shifted the country from a critical support of Israel to a more neutral stance on Middle Eastern affairs. Brazil moved closer to Latin America, Europe and Japan.

The 1975 agreement with West Germany to build nuclear reactors produced confrontation with the Carter administration, which also scolded the Geisel government for abusing human rights. Frustrated with what he saw as the highhandedness and lack of understanding of the Carter administration, Geisel renounced the military alliance with the United States in April 1977.

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In 1974 he assumed the leadership of the National Intelligence Service of Brazil (March 15, 1974 – June 14, 1978), a Brazil's internal security agency. Picked by President Ernesto Geisel as his successor, Figueiredo campaigned vigorously, even though he could not possibly be defeated; the president was elected by a legislature dominated by the pro-military National Renewal Alliance Party. As expected, he won easily against the nominal opposition candidate, General Monteiro.

As president, he continued the gradual abertura (democratization) process instituted in 1974. An amnesty law, signed by Figueiredo on August 28, 1979, amnestied those convicted of "political or related" crimes between 1961 and 1978. In the early 1980s, the military regime could no longer effectively maintain the two-party system established in 1966. The Figueiredo administration dissolved the government-controlled National Renewal Alliance Party (ARENA) and allowed new parties to be formed. In 1981 the Congress enacted a law to restore direct elections of state governors. The general election of 1982 brought victory to ARENA's successor, the pro-government Democratic Social Party (43.22% of the vote), and to the opposition Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (42.96%).

The governorship of three major states, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, was won by the opposition. However, political developments were overshadowed by economic problems. As inflation and unemployment soared, the foreign debt reached massive proportions making Brazil the world's biggest debtor owing about US$90 billion to international lenders. The austerity program imposed by the government brought no signs of recovery for the Brazilian economy until the end of Figueiredo's term. The president had a heart attack and injuries from horse riding and took two prolonged leaves for health treatment in 1981 and 1983, but civilian vice president Antônio Aureliano Chaves de Mendonça did not enjoy major political power. The opposition vigorously struggled to pass a constitutional amendment that would allow direct popular Presidential elections in November 1984, but the proposal failed to win passage in the Congress. The opposition candidate Tancredo Neves succeeded Figueiredo when Congress held an election for the new President. He did not return to politics, lived away from the public attention and died on December 24, 1999. After his death President Fernando Henrique Cardoso declared three days of mourning.