October 1:   No sign of survivors from Brazil plane    International Herald Tribune

President Lula, a former union leader, is Brazil's first working-class president. He pledged social change and promised to eradicate hunger. Investors remembered his radical rhetoric of the past, and feared his election. As it became more apparent he would win, the Brazilian currency weakened, and Brazil's country-risk rating skyrocketed. In the months after his election, however, he took a conservative fiscal path, warning that social reforms would take years and that Brazil had no alternative but to extend fiscal austerity policies. The Real recovered dramatically. At the same time, Lula raised the minimum wage from 200 to 240 Reals per month, and stressed his "Zero Hunger" initiative, designed to give each Brazilian three meals a day.  By the end of 2003, key legislation to reform the nation's public sector pension system and to overhaul its tax system had passed Congress, though follow-on legislation still needs to be passed in 2004.

Brazil wins World Cup Soccer - Wikipedia

Transition from Military to Elected Government

From: http://www.historyofnations.net/southamerica/brazil.html

In 1969 the Revolutionary Movement 8th October kidnapped Charles Burke Elbrick, the U.S. ambassador to Brazil. The rebels demanded the release of imprisoned dissidents in exchange for Ambassador Elbrick. The government responded by adopting more brutal measures of counter-insurgency, leading to the assassination of Carlos Marighela, a guerrilla leader, two months after Elbrick's kidnapping. This marked the beginning of the decline of armed resistance. In 1970, Nobuo Okuchi, Japanese consul general in Sāo Paulo, was kidnapped and Curtis C. Cutter, U.S. consul in Porto Alegre, was wounded in the shoulder but escaped kidnapping. Also in 1970, Ehren von Holleben, West German Ambassador, was kidnapped in Rio and one of his bodyguards was killed.^[1]

According to a government-sponsored truth and reconciliation commission in 2007, by the end of the 21 years of dictatorship there were 339 documented cases of government-sponsored political assassinations or disappearances. More were questioned, tortured, and jailed

Military Coup & Dictatorship 1964 - 1985

From: http://www.historyofnations.net/southamerica/brazil.html

Further Reading: Brazil Military Dictatorship (Wikipedia)

Joao Goulart's years in office were marked by high inflation, economic stagnation, and the increasing influence of radical political elements. The armed forces, alarmed by these developments, staged a coup on March 31, 1964. The coup leaders chose as president Humberto Castello Branco, followed by Arthur da Costa e Silva (1967-69), Emilio Garrastazu Medici (1968-74), and Ernesto Geisel (1974-79), all of whom were senior army officers. Geisel began a democratic opening that was continued by his successor, Gen. Joao Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo (1979-85). Figueiredo not only permitted the return of politicians exiled or banned from political activity during the 1960s and 1970s, but also allowed them to run for state and federal offices in 1982.