Was Tancredo Neves murdered?

Illustrates Marcos de Lima

Edition Felipe van Deursen

A CIVILIAN IN POWER

Tancredo Neves, from Minas Gerais, was the first civilian president elected after the military dictatorship, which lasted 21 years in the country (1964-1985). On January 15, 1985, in an indirect election in the Electoral College, composed of senators, federal deputies and representatives of the state Legislative Assemblies, Tancredo defeated the candidate supported by the military, Paulo Maluf

EMERGENCY SURGERY

On March 14, the eve of his inauguration, Tancredo had severe abdominal pain, was rushed to the hospital and underwent an emergency operation. The next day, who took office in his place was the deputy, José Sarney, former president of the PDS, a party that supported the dictatorship. After an agonizing 38 days and seven surgeries, Tancredo was pronounced dead on April 21.

MALUF WHAT DID

One of the theories about his death said that Tancredo had been assassinated by soldiers opposed to the handover of power. The thesis gained strength in 1996, when General Newton Cruz, in an interview with the program Living Wheel, from TV Cultura, said that Paulo Maluf sought him out in October 1984 (three months before the vote in the Electoral College), proposing a coup if Tancredo were elected. According to Cruz, the Planalto military commander at the time, Maluf told him that Tancredo was very sick and would not be able to command the country.

SHOTS IN THE CATHEDRAL

Another rumor was that the hospitalization on the eve of the inauguration was due to an attack suffered by Tancredo when he attended mass in the Cathedral of Brasília. During the celebration, the electricity went out and some present swear they heard a shot. Tancredo was reportedly taken straight to the Base Hospital in Brasilia for an emergency operation.

GLORY SAW IT ALL

Rede Globo reporter Glória Maria would have witnessed the moment when the president was shot – and would still have been shot in the leg. To silence her, Globo, a historical ally of the military regime, appointed the journalist to be a correspondent in Morocco – a way of keeping her far away from discussions about the case.

BUTLER IS NOT GUILTY

Another hypothesis says that Tancredo was poisoned. That’s because João Rosa, the politician’s butler, suffered similar pains in his stomach, was hospitalized for 16 days, underwent several surgeries and finally died – one day after his boss. The poisoning was also attributed to the military, but this time with the support of the CIA, the US intelligence agency. The target would be Tancredo, of course, but the hapless butler would be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

MEDICAL SHAVES

The climate of mistrust about Tancredo’s agony was fueled by lies and medical errors. The official explanation for the surgery on the eve of the inauguration was diverticulitis (inflation in the wall of the intestine), duly treated with the intervention. But after the operation, the president only got worse and had to return to the operating room six times, suffering from bleeding and infections.

DEAD IN THE PHOTO

Tancredo’s team released a photo on March 25 to prove that he was recovering well. The image showed the politician next to the doctors. Not convinced. According to an article in VEJA magazine at the time, he had two probes injected into his body and, behind the sofa, a nurse was holding a bottle of serum. With the news of the hoax, the plan backfires and it soon spreads that Tancredo was already dead in the photo.

GOODBYE DAY

Doubts even hover over the date of death. A team doctor said Tancredo’s brain stopped working on April 20. But his death was decreed the next day. April 21 would have been chosen to immortalize the idea that Tancredo was a hero, as well as the man honored on that day’s holiday, Tiradentes

On the other hand – what is confirmed

Complications resulting from the removal of a tumor in the intestine killed Tancredo

– Tancredo had already been feeling abdominal pains since June 1984 and hid them so as not to disturb the transition to democracy

– The Hospital de Base in Brasília did not offer ideal conditions for the surgery (the ICU was under renovation), but the doctors preferred to keep it there

– Élcio Miziara, the doctor who performed the biopsy of the part of Tancredo’s intestine extracted in the first surgery, declared that it was a benign tumor. The truth was camouflaged so as not to «generate panic in the country», according to Miziara, who was eventually sued by the Federal Council of Medicine

– On the day that Tancredo’s photo was published, he had a sudden worsening and was transferred to São Paulo, where he would later die. But in the picture he was alive

– Glória Maria denies that she was a witness to an alleged attack against Tancredo. Globo claims that, although Glória has done many reports around the world, she has never been a correspondent abroad

– The death of the butler was a tragic coincidence

– Although he belonged to the pro-dictatorship party, Sarney was considered a traitor to the military regime. So much so that João Figueiredo, the last president of the period, who would pass the sash to Tancredo, refused to transfer the position to Sarney

– Maluf denied what Newton Cruz said and still sued him