All in the Family

The Brazilian constitution stipulates that a President cannot succeed himself. General Emilio Medici, the current President, therefore announced last week that the ruling military junta had been searching for a man of "moral and intellectual depth . . . unquestionable knowledge . . . experience," a man who could provide the nation with "progress, well-being and happiness." This paragon, to no one's surprise, turned out to be another military man, ex-General Ernesto Geisel, 65, president of the state-owned petroleum monopoly, Petrobras. Geisel must be approved by the electoral college before he is inaugurated for a five-year term on March 15, but this college is controlled by the generals' ARENA Party.

By all appearances, Geisel is a perfect choice to perpetuate the rule of the junta that has run Brazil since the 1964 coup that ousted President Joao Goulart. The son of a poor German immigrant schoolteacher, Geisel has devoted a lifetime to the army. At his desk every morning at 7:50, he is a model of efficiency, has no hobbies except reading (in four languages) and takes work home at night. He was a leader of the military coup that toppled Goulart on charges of "Communism and corruption." When he retired from the service to take over Petrobras in 1969, he was a tough senior judge on the Supreme Military Tribunal that is charged with prosecuting "subversives."

Despite Geisel's military sternness, some Brazilians feel that he is the best of an unavoidable lot. They base their feelings mainly on his past performance. In 1966, for example, Geisel was a leader of a movement within the military to retain the Congress, when other generals demanded its dissolution; the following year he was instrumental in pushing through a constitutional amendment that formally retained the Congress (though it was stripped of power). "Geisel has a military appearance but a civilian mind," says an editor in Sao Paulo. "With Medici it was the other way around. Geisel is smarter and he seems to belong to no one. He has a chance."

But these, nevertheless, are thin straws. While Geisel can be counted on to keep Brazil's economy booming, it remains to be seen whether he will ease the junta's restrictions on Congress, political parties and the press. Brazilians can remember Medici's 1969 inaugural promise to see "democracy definitely installed in our country." That promise was never kept.

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