Brazilian political tradition permits officers to hold…

Brazilian political tradition permits officers to hold political office and to serve as cabinet ministers, thereby blurring the civil-military roles.

As parliamentary deputies and senators, officers can criticize the government, including their military superiors, with impunity.

In the 1880s, officers participate in provincial politics, debate in the press, and speak in public forums.

In 1884 a civilian minister of war attempts to impose order by forbidding officers to write or speak publicly about governmental matters.

The subsequent punishments of offending officers led Field Marshal Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca and General Jose Antonio Correia de Camara (Visconde de Pelotas) to head protests that eventually force the minister to resign in February 1887 and the cabinet to fall in March 1888.