Brazil: Hard Blow for the Hard Line

Ever since the revolution that toppled Leftist João Goulart in March 1964, Brazil has been riven by an ugly power squabble that could drastically affect the future of Brazilian democracy. Taking advantage of the coup that landed a soldier, General Humberto Castello Branco, in the presidential palace, a hardline, right-wing military faction known as the linha dura has been busily purging state and local governments of every official whom they suspect of Communist sympathies or simple malfeasance—in many cases without benefit of judicial procedure. Last week the hard-liners were dealt a hard...