The Special Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances (CEMDP), an agency linked to the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship, approved this Friday (29) a report that concludes that former president Juscelino Kubitschek was assassinated during the military dictatorship. The decision represents one of the most important historical reassessments of JK's death, which occurred on August 22, 1976.
The report was approved by six votes in favor and one abstention. The conclusion contradicts the official version, upheld for decades, according to which the former president died in a car accident on the Presidente Dutra Highway.
Change to death certificate
With the approval of the document, the commission recommends altering JK's death certificate. The proposal is that the record should indicate that his death was "unnatural, violent, caused by the Brazilian State in the context of the systematic persecution of the population identified as political dissidents of the dictatorial regime established in 1964".
This measure comes in the year that marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the former president, who was responsible for the construction of Brasília and was one of the most prominent figures in Brazilian political history.
What the report says
The document, prepared by historian Maria Cecília Adão, argues that the accident theory presents significant inconsistencies.
According to the analysis approved by the commission, the collision of a Viação Cometa bus with JK's Opala, pointed to for decades as the cause of the accident, did not occur. This was the main explanation adopted by the investigations conducted during the military regime and later reproduced by other official investigations.
The report also includes elements related to Operation Condor, the so-called Operation Code 12 — identified as a mechanism to cover up political attacks under the guise of accidents — and accounts of threats suffered by the former president before his death.
Divergent investigations
The review conducted by the commission did not involve new expert analyses or the opening of a new criminal investigation. The work consisted of compiling and analyzing previous studies, especially the investigations carried out by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office between 2013 and 2019.
In 2021, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) released a report indicating that there was no evidence to confirm a collision between the bus and JK's vehicle. However, the prosecutors concluded that it was also not possible to definitively prove or rule out the hypothesis of an assassination attempt, due to a lack of sufficient material evidence.
The commission concluded that the body of evidence allows for attributing responsibility to the Brazilian State, using legal grounds related to the protection of victims of human rights violations.
Suspicions and flaws pointed out
Among the points highlighted in the report are 37 alleged irregularities or flaws in the investigation carried out at the time of JK's death.
The document mentions the absence of toxicological tests on the former president and his driver, Geraldo Ribeiro, as well as the removal of photographs from the case file under the justification that they would be excessively shocking.
The rapporteur also cites reports that JK had received warnings about possible threats against his life. According to the investigation, two weeks before the tragedy, information was already circulating about the possibility of an attack against the former president.
The debate continues.
The death of Juscelino Kubitschek remains one of the most controversial episodes in Brazilian political history.
While investigations carried out during the dictatorship, a commission of the Chamber of Deputies in 2001 and the National Truth Commission in 2014 concluded that it was an accident, other state and municipal investigations supported the hypothesis of a political assassination.
With the approval of the new report by the Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances, the debate enters a new chapter and reinforces discussions about the State's responsibility for violations that occurred during the military regime.
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