“Betrayal”, “disobedience”, “partisan indiscipline”: revocation of mandates and suspension of political rights of members of the Arena (1968-1969)

Abstract

After more than 50 years of the enactment of Institutional Act no. 5 (AI-5), there’s still little knowledge about the extent of repressive aspirations toward the politicians, even less on the government's party, the Aliança Renovadora Nacional (Arena). In the Fundo Conselho de Segurança Nacional, nowadays under the Arquivo Nacional jurisdiction, there’s vast documentation on the revocation of elective mandates and suspension of congressmen’s political rights. In terms of punishment, the dossiers were prepared from documents produced by parliamentary advisors and by information agents. The extent of this documentation on professional politicians shows a significant effort to monitor their activities. The investment in producing documentation relative to Arena’s politicians expresses a pursuit of control over the circulation of information in the public sphere and the recognition of the importance of congressmen, of their manifestations in Congress’ tribunes, in their National Congress votes and press.

Keywords:
Military Dictatorship; Institucional Act n. 5; Aliança Renovadora Nacional (Arena); Conselho de Segurança Nacional; purges