ELECTION DISAPPOINTS BRAZILIAN DICTATORSHIP
The October 3 elections in Brazil, which were carefully staged by the Castelo Branco dictatorship to put a coat of democratic paint on the regime, ended in a decided disappointment for the generals who are running the country. Although all the candidates with a public image that smacked of liberalism were barred from running, the vote was so heavily in favor of the presumed “opposition” candidates who were permitted to run that the results were considered to be proof of complete public repudiation of the regime.
Army circles at once met to consider rolling out the tanks and cancelling the verdict of the polls. Cooler heads prevailed, however, and the candidates for governorships in some of the key states will be permitted to take office, according to the latest word from Castelo Branco,
Despite ferocious witch-hunting and the use of terror on a wide scale, the Castelo Branco regime is finding it hard to achieve stability. It is not difficult to locate the main reason for this.
In the first eight months of this year, the cost of living rose 34%, While this is not as steep as the 85% rate of increase last year, it is sufficient to keep the masses aware of the fact that they are not living in the best of all possible worlds,
A completely new set of union leaders, "elected" under the regulations set up by the generals, have found it necessary to submit wage demands, In a September 11 memorandum to Castelo Branco they said that the costs of the government's anti-inflation program “are
falling exclusively on the economically weakest sector," i.e., the workers,
The metal workers and bank clerks recently announced that they need wage increases of 110% and 75% respectively to meet the jump in the cost of living since the last adjustment.
The national minimum wage scale was recently set at 66,000 cruzeiros ($35) a month.
ASYLUM