The Liberal Alliance was a political alliance in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

made at the beginning of August 1929 on the initiative of political leaders from

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 ...

and

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

to support the candidacies of

Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; ; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Due to his long and contr ...

and João Pessoa for the presidency and vice-presidency in the elections of March 1, 1930, in opposition to

Júlio Prestes Júlio Prestes de Albuquerque (; 15 March 1882 – 9 February 1946) was a Brazilian poet, lawyer and politician. He was the last elected President of Brazil of the period known as the Old Republic, but never took office because the gover ...

, the governor of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

and the president

Washington Luís Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa (; 26 October 1869 – 4 August 1957) was a Brazilian politician who served as the 13th president of Brazil. Elected governor of São Paulo state in 1920 and president of Brazil in 1926, Washington Luís belonge ...

History

In the elections of March 1, 1930, then president Washington Luís launched the candidacy of

. His choice aimed to ensure the continuity of the economic and financial policy, of austerity and containment of resources for coffee farming, while representing a break in the traditional relay between São Paulo and Minas Gerais in the presidency. Feeling left out, the candidate from Minas Gerais, Antônio Carlos Ribeiro de Andrada, sought support from Rio Grande do Sul. After intense negotiations between the end of 1928 and July 1929, on July 30, the executive committee of the

Republican Party of Minas Gerais The Mineiro Republican Party (, PRM) was a Brazilian political party founded on 4 June 1888 and active until its extinction on 2 December 1937 by Decree No. 37 – issued by Getúlio Vargas during the Estado Novo – which abolished all politica ...

launched the candidacies of Getúlio Vargas and João Pessoa for the presidency and vice-presidency, respectively. The following day, the Liberator Party, from Rio Grande do Sul, joining the

Rio-grandense Republican Party The Republican Party of Rio Grande do Sul (, PRR) was a Brazilian political party founded on February 23, 1882. It was dissolved in 1937 due to the Estado Novo. References Political parties of the First Brazilian Republic Defunct politi ...

in the Gaúcho United Front, gave support for the opposition ticket. Aiming to make its action more concrete, the opposition formed, at the beginning of August, the Liberal Alliance under the leadership of president Minas Gerais Afonso Pena Júnior and vice-president Gaucho Ildefonso Simões Lopes. In addition to Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul and

Paraíba Paraíba ( , ; ) is a states of Brazil, state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba i ...

, the Liberal Alliance received support from all state oppositions, especially the Democratic Party of São Paulo and the Democratic Party of the Federal District. On September 20, at a convention held in Rio de Janeiro, the Liberal Alliance approved the Vargas-Pessoa ticket and its electoral platform, written by Lindolfo Collor. Declaring political reform to be essential, he defended popular representation through secret voting, Electoral Justice, the independence of the Judiciary, amnesty for revolutionaries of 1922, 1924 and 1925–27 and the adoption of protectionist economic measures for export products other than coffee. It advocated measures to protect workers, such as the extension of the right to retirement, the application of the vacation law and the regulation of the work of minors and women. In the same year, a more radical current, formed by young politicians such as João Neves da Fontoura, Oswaldo Aranha and Virgílio de Melo Franco, began to consider an armed movement in the event of defeat at the polls. As a first step, they sought the collaboration of '' tenentists''. These negotiations took place with great difficulty due to mutual distrust, as the Alliance included some of the lieutenants' main adversaries, especially Artur Bernardes,

Epitácio Pessoa Epitácio Lindolfo da Silva Pessoa (; 23 May 1865 – 13 February 1942) was a Brazilian politician and jurist who served as the 11th president of Brazil between 1919 and 1922, when Rodrigues Alves was unable to take office due to illness, after b ...

and João Pessoa.

References

Classical liberal parties Defunct liberal political parties Defunct political party alliances in Brazil Liberal parties in Brazil Political parties established in 1929 {{Brazil-party-stub Political parties disestablished in 1930 Political parties of the First Brazilian Republic