Carlos Castello Branco (

Teresina Teresina is the capital and most populous municipality in the Brazilian state of Piauí. Being located in north-central Piauí 366 km from the coast, it is the only capital in the Brazilian Northeast that is not located on the shores of th ...

, June 25, 1920 –

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, June 1, 1993) was a Brazilian journalist and writer. He was a member of the

Academia Brasileira de Letras The Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL; English: ''Brazilian Academy of Letters'') is a Brazilian literature, literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation ...

and of the Academia Piauiense de Letras. The column that he maintained in the

Jornal do Brasil ''Jornal do Brasil'', widely known as ''JB'', is a daily newspaper published by Editora JB in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The paper was founded in 1891 and is the third oldest extant Brazilian paper, after the ''Diário de Pernambuco'' and ''O Esta ...

is a landmark of political journalism. His collected papers are kept in the Archive-Museum of Brazilian Literature, part of the Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa.

Biography

''Castelinho'', as he was known, was born

, in the Brazilian State of

Piauí Piauí ( ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coas ...

on June 25, 1920, the son of Cristino Castello Branco and Dulcila Santanna. He obtained a law degree in

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

(1943), but his life was dedicated to journalism. He started with Diários Associados in 1939 and, after assuming positions of leadership, resolved to dedicate himself to political reporting, initially in ''O Jornal'' (1949), then in Diário Carioca and in the magazine O Cruzeiro. He started his career in literature with ''Continhos Brasileiros'' (1952). He was press secretary in the short government of

Jânio Quadros Jânio da Silva Quadros (; 25 January 1917 – 16 February 1992) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd president of Brazil from 31 January to 25 August 1961, when he resigned from office. He also served as the 24th a ...

in 1961. With the resignation of Quadros, he took over as head of the branch of the

, in

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

from 1962 to 1972. There, the ''Coluna do Castello'' was born. It was read, appreciated and feared by politicians, since it was written by someone intimate with the backstage dealings of power and a shrewd interpreter of the political reality. He maintained this newspaper column until the end of his life. His column is considered the most important work of Brazilian political journalism to date. His posthumously released work, ''A Renuncia de Jânio'' (1996) is considered one of the best accounts of the resignation of

, due to his close involvement in the affair. Invited by the journalists Armando Rollemberg, Hélio Doyle and Carlos Marchi, he agreed to be a candidate for the presidency of the Union of Journalists of the Federal District, which was currently dominated by a group sympathetic to the military dictatorship. His slate defeated that headed by Arnaldo Ramos, which was running for re-election in 1976. During his leadership of the Union, Castello constantly confronted the junta, but doing it with diplomacy, trying not to create friction. After the issuing of Institutional Act Number 5 (Ato Institucional Número Cinco, in Portuguese) by the military dictatorship, the press in Brazil was severely censored and restricted. But even with all these setbacks, he was able to fulfil his term in 1981. The auditorium of the Union bears his name in his honor. Because of his struggle for press freedom, he won various international awards, like the

Maria Moors Cabot prize The Maria Moors Cabot Prizes are the oldest international awards in the field of journalism. They are presented each fall by the Trustees of Columbia University to journalists in the Western hemisphere who are viewed as having made a significant c ...

, from Columbia University and the Mergenthaler Prize from the

Inter American Press Association The Inter American Press Association (IAPA; Spanish: ''Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa'', SIP) is a press advocacy group representing major media organizations in North America, South America and the Caribbean. It is made up of more than 1,300 ...

, as well as the Nereu Ramos Prize from the University of Santa Catarina and the Prêmio Almirante. He was a member of the Academia Piauiense de Letras, Pen Clube do Brasil and the Associação Nacional de Escritores. Married for 44 years to Élvia Castello Branco (married December 11, 1948), minister of the

Tribunal de Contas da União The Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (, often referred to as TCU) is Brazil's federal audit office. It provides assistance to the Congress of Brazil in its Constitutional duty to exercise external audit over the Executive Branch. Its members ...

, they had three children, Rodrigo, Luciana and Pedro. Rodrigo died in a car accident in 1976 at age 25. He had health problems beginning in 1986. Castelo died in 1993. He is buried in the Academia de Letras Brasileira's mausoleum in São João Batista Cemetery in Rio de Janeiro.

Academia Brasileira de Letras

He was elected to chair 34 of the

, in 1982.

Bibliography

*''Continhos brasileiros'' (1952) *''Arco de triunfo'', romance (1959) *''Introdução à Revolução de 1964'', 2 vols. (1975) *''Os militares no poder'', 4 vols. (1977, 1978, 1980 and 1981) *''Retratos e fatos da história recente'' (1994) *''A renúncia de Jânio'' (1996) *''Retratos e fatos da história recente'' (1996)

External links

Academia Brasileira de Letras

carloscastellobranco.com.br – Biographical site, includes all the "Colunos de Castello" written by Carlos Castello Branco

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090520003315/http://www.anenet.com.br/biografias/biografia_carlosbranco.htm Biography
Castello e o Sindicato dos Jornalistas do DF

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castello Branco, Carlos 1920 births 1993 deaths Brazilian male journalists People from Teresina 20th-century Brazilian journalists