Commemoration of Brazil's military coup causes anger, unease

Crimeia Alice Schmidt de Almeida attends a women's seminar at Sao Paulo's municipal chamber on Tuesday, March 26, 2019. Almeida was detained by the Brazilian army in 1972 when she was 8-months pregnant and a tortured. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has asked the defense ministry to organize commemorations of the country's two decade-long military dictatorship that began on March 31, 1964. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Alvaro Caldas who was tortured during the dictatorship, gestures during an interview with AP at his home, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, March 26, 2019. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has asked the defense ministry to organize commemorations of the country's two decade-long military dictatorship that began on March 31, 1964. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

RIO DE JANEIRO – Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's call to commemorate the anniversary of Brazil's 1964 military coup is causing discomfort in Latin America's largest nation, with social groups organizing protests and the federal prosecutors' office saying the call "deserves social and political repudiation."

Bolsonaro, a former army captain who waxes nostalgic for the 1964-1985 dictatorship, on Monday asked Brazil's Defense Ministry to organize "due commemorations" on March 31, the day historians say marks the coup that began the country's military regime.

The reaction was immediate. Federal prosecutors said that under international criminal law Brazil's dictators "had committed crimes against humanity." In a long and strongly worded statement, prosecutors said Bolsonaro's initiative sounded like an "apology for the practice of atrocities."

Several civil groups announced they were organizing protests throughout the country.

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