Unmasking the Conciliation Falsehood: Figueiredo and the 1979 Amnesty in the Press Pages

Abstract

In August 1979, next to the promulgation of Amnesty’s Law, the great press journals recalled passages of João Figueiredo’s pronouncement, at the moment of his inauguration as last dictatorship President. His speech have mentioned the national conciliation project through political openness. Using mentions of his pronouncement given on the day he assumed the presidency, Figueiredo reinforced, during his speech in Batatais, a municipality in the interior of São Paulo, his commitment to the opening project. Figueiredo have promised his “outstretched hand to conciliation” affirming to make “of this country a democracy”. At the same time, civil society and partisan opposition had asserted themselves even more criticals of dictatorship, given that the impositions of an authoritarian government program did not match with the intentions in Figueiredo's speech. In Rio, O Globo and Tribuna da Imprensa were responsible for bringing news about the president's pronunciation. It is intended to analyze the publications of these newspapers, observing the way in which both have been appropriated about this episode.