Carnaval, as everyone knows, is the time when Brazil plunges into the world's biggest binge, a wild four-day pageant driven by the intoxicating beat of the samba. There are no politics to carnaval, and no Brazilian government—however tough-minded—would dare deny its people their great annual excursion into tun and fantasy (see box following page). Yet there is a slightly unreal air to Brazil this week, as carnaval dances toward its pre-Lent climax. Since the military crackdown last December, Brazilians have had to put up with a tough, moralistic, even prudish regime. While...
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