SAO PAULO – Key members of Brazil's government on Wednesday celebrated the anniversary of the country's 1964 military coup, which launched a 21-year dictatorship that saw hundreds of people killed and thousands tortured.
President Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has often expressed nostalgia for the dictatorship, was granted approval from a federal court earlier this month to commemorate March 31, 1964 — a date supporters contend saved Brazil from communism.
Analysts said the celebrations have deflected public attention away from the country's 320,000 dead in the COVID-19 pandemic. “On this day, 57 years ago, the Brazilian people with the support of the armed forces stopped the international communist movement from sticking its