Produção Nacional
Revisado por pares
Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Ulysses Guimarães’ Rebirth of Brazilian Democracy and the Creation of Brazil's National Health Care System
2008; American Public Health Association; Volume: 99; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2105/ajph.2008.147868
ISSN1541-0048
Autores Tópico(s)Health, Nursing, Elderly Care
ResumoTHE HISTORY OF DEMOCRACY in Brazil is tortuous. Since its independence from Portugal on September 7, 1822, Brazil has had eight constitutions, only two of which were created by genuinely democratic processes. Throughout its history as an independent nation, Brazil has contended with alternating periods of flourishing democracy and withering authoritarianism, the most recent of the latter being a military dictatorship that lasted from a coup d’etat on March 31, 1964, until 1985. During this period, the military rulers restricted civil rights and tampered with electoral processes, abolishing direct elections for president and instituting an electoral college that was shamelessly manipulated to ensure that the official candidate—always a general—would win the “election,” no matter what the popular vote. Centrally responsible for the rebirth of Brazilian democracy in 1985 was Ulysses Guimaraes, a political leader from Sao Paulo, the largest state in the Brazilian Federation. Born on October 6, 1916, Guimaraes had a career in the fledgling Brazilian democracy that developed after the end of the 15-year dictatorship of Getulio Dornelles Vargas in 1945.1 Guimaraes had a background in law and was deeply involved in politics and constitutional affairs. After the 1964 coup, Gui-maraes became one of the founders of an opposition party, the Movimento Democratico Brasileiro (Brazilian Democratic Movement), a ragtag band of politicians who were not already in prison or exile. Against all odds and the repression of the military regime, Guimaraes helped to organize democratic resistance to the dictatorship. In 1973, as the opposition candidate for the presidency, he campaigned all over the country, proclaiming himself the anticandidate and using his candidacy as a platform for denouncing the dictatorship and its false election process. Another major moment came in 1984, when Guimaraes led a popular movement that demanded the return of the direct elections for president; the movement's slogan of Diretas Ja! (Direct Elections Now!) earned him the nickname “Mr Direct Elections.” Despite rallies of more than 1 million people in each of the major Brazilian cities, the necessary parliamentary majority for reinstating direct elections was not attained. The democratic dream of the Brazilian people was again postponed, but the days of the dictatorship were numbered. The military dictatorship fell without bloodshed in 1985. In 1986 a massive national health conference formally endorsed the proposals of the Movimento de Reforma Sanitaria (Movement for Sanitary Reform), a mobilization of public health workers, academics, and reformers that was one of the main forces in the struggle for the redemocratization of the country. Their call for a universal health care system had been a rallying cry for the people.2 In the next year, an elected parliament was charged with the task of crafting a new constitution that would purge the remnants of dictatorship from the Brazilian legal framework. The parliament named Guimaraes the president of the National Constitutional Assembly. After 18 months of hard work and intense political debate, the new constitution was promulgated on October 5, 1988. Besides being a landmark of Brazilian democracy, the new constitution enshrines the principles proposed by the Movimento de Reforma Sanitaria and marks the beginning of the Brazilian National Health Care System. Guimaraes died in a helicopter crash on October 12, 1992. His death was mourned by the entire nation, which was saddened by the loss of one of its most important political leaders. What follows is my translation of selected excerpts from the historic speech Guimaraes delivered on the day that the new constitution, the “citizen constitution,” was promulgated in parliament.3 As he finished his speech, he raised a copy of the newly printed constitution. That image has been seared in the memory of Brazilians as the moment of birth of a new democratic era in which progressive ideals of social justice, including the right to health care, were finally acknowledged. “The demands of the streets reverberate in this hall. The Nation wants to change, the Nation must change, the Nation will change.” These are words from the inaugural speech as President of the National Constitutional Assembly, delivered on February 2nd, 1987. Today, October 5th, 1988, as far as the Constitution is concerned, the Nation has changed. The Nation changed in the making of this Constitution, changed with the definition of powers, changed in restoring the Federation, and changed in converting the individual into a citizen who will now earn a fair and sufficient wage, read, write, have a place to live, leisure, and have hospitals and medicines…. The Constitution is not perfect. It acknowledges that by creating a process for its own improvement. Disagree with it, yes. Diverge from it, yes. Fail to comply with it, never. Ignore it, absolutely not. Betraying the Constitution is betraying the Fatherland. We know that wretched path: shred the Constitution, lock the doors of the Parliament, strangle freedom, send patriots to jail, to exile, to the graveyard. The persistence of the Constitution assures the survival of democracy…. We have hatred for dictatorships, hatred and disgust. We curse tyranny wherever it disgraces men and nations, especially in Latin America. [This Constitution breathes the enriched breath of the] people, from the streets, from squares, from favelas, from factories, from workers, from cooks, from children in need, from native Brazilians, from squatters, from entrepreneurs, from students, from retirees, from military and civil servants. This breath assures the social authenticity of the text that will be in force from now on. As the seashell, it will store forever the waves of suffering and of hope … The Constitution is the statute of mankind…. It not only defends individuals against abuses by the State and elsewhere, but it incorporates individuals in the State, making them the recipients of rights and services…. It is the bugle call of popular and direct sovereignty … commanding the charge into the field of social needs. It is not a perfect Constitution, but it will be useful, innovative, groundbreaking. It will be the light, even if just that of an oil lamp, in the night of the poor and miserable…. [Brazil now implements a broad system of social security], with the integration of actions related to health, pensions and social assistance, as well as the universality of benefits for those who contribute or not, besides benefiting eleven million retirees whose earnings had been plundered…. As a politician, I chase clouds. I have been chased by storms. One of them, benign, lifted me to the top of this mountain of dream and glory…. Society always ends up winning, even when facing the inertia or antagonism of the State…. It was society, mobilized in the massive “Direct Elections Now!” rallies, that, through transition and change, defeated the usurping State. I finish with the words with which I began this speech: “The Nation wants to change, the Nation must change, the Nation will change.” The Constitution intends to be the voice, the proclamation, the political will of society heading toward change. May its promulgation be our cry: Change to win! Change, Brazil!”3 Albert Ulysses Guimaraes Presents the New Constitution to a Thankful Nation. Source. Fernando Bizerra/Agencia BG Press The 1988 constitution, article 196, states, Health is a right of everyone and a duty of the State, warranted through social and economic policies that aim to reduce the risks of diseases and other offenses to health and to provide universal and equal access to the actions and services for its promotion, protection, and recuperation.4
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