Janio's Homecoming

Into the coffee port of Santos last week steamed the Dutch freighter Ruys. Aboard was ex-President Janio Quadros, 45, whose petulant resignation seven months ago plunged Brazil into chaos, disillusion and disrepair. He came home in triumph. When the Ruys docked, Janio, tanned, a bit flushed, and about 10 lbs. heavier than when he sailed away last August, walked into a swarm of 10,000 almost fanatic fans.

He arrived on Ash Wednesday, but the crowd was still in a mood of pre-Lenten carnival. It hoisted the returning prodigal to its shoulders and carried him on a mauling ride to a police truck, which drove him to a hastily built platform. Skyrockets burst, pennants waved, and there were shouts of "Janio for dictator!" "Our solution has arrived!" and "Jesus Christ renounced too!" Disheveled, his French cuffs unlinked and flapping, Quadros spoke for 15 impassioned minutes.

"I return to fight at whatever the cost for the republic about which we dream." said Janio. "To arrive at the destiny that we desire and the Brazil that we want. There is only one order: we must stay united. And woe to those who have wanted to know, and who do not belong to the people, the reasons for my renouncing the presidency. The reasons for my renouncement will be known in the public square.'' After his emotional but hardly enlightening speech, Quadros fell silent. In his purposely enigmatic way, he was testing the political air, and he probably found it good. His tentative early supporters in clude Guanabara State Governor Carlos Lacerda, who has had second thoughts about his bitter anti-Quadros denunciation that helped push Quadros toward abdication; demagogic Governor Leonel Brizola of Rio Grande do Sul; Bahia Governor Juracy Magalhaes ; and reactionary ex-Navy Minister Silvio Heck, who burst into tears when he received a personal letter from "our President." Barred by the constitution from retaking the presidency, Quadros may go along with supporters who would like to see him Prime Minister, a post that can be shaped by a strong man to satisfy his hunger for executive power. There are disillusioned Brazilians aplenty who regard Quadros as unstable and a potential dictator. But among the politicians who sense the Brazilian people's growing anger over their country's slothful government, there is a feeling that Quadros is a political messiah. From all over Brazil last week they were flocking to cling to his robes.

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