Crisis of the fake letters
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The crisis of the fake letters was a political scandal in Brazil in 1921 involving two disclosed letters containing offenses against the Brazilian military and Nilo Peçanha. The letters were attributed to Artur Bernardes, then governor of Minas Gerais and a candidate for the 1922 presidential elections.[1][2]
The scandal that ensued intensified the military's opposition to Bernardes, who went on to win the election in March 1922, but faced the tenentist movement during his government, the beginning of a process of political rupture in the First Brazilian Republic that culminated in the Revolution of 1930.[3]
The first letter, dated 3 June 1921, referred to marshal Hermes da Fonseca as a "sergeant without manners". It also called the banquet at which his candidacy for the presidency was launched as an "orgy", and said, regarding the military, that "this scourge needs a reprimand to enter into discipline".[2] And continued: “See if Epitácio [Pessoa] shows his vaunted energy, severely punishing these daring ones, arresting those who strayed from discipline and removing these anarchist generals to far away". The second letter, dated 6 June 1921, referred to an extension of the Presidential Convention, "because it should have been held before the arrival of Nilo [Peçanha], because as you said, this kid is capable of anything. Remove all difficulties as you see fit, without looking at expenses".[4]
After the letters were published by Correio da Manhã, other newspapers began to give great attention to the subject. Debates in the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's Chamber of Deputies and Senate, as well as statements by politicians, military personnel and jurists regarding the authenticity of the letters were prominently publicized in the press.[5]
The letters published by Correio da Manhã were actually forged, as it later turned out, by Pedro Burlamaqui, Oldemar Lacerda and Jacinto Cardoso de Oliveira Guimarães. Lacerda had obtained the papers with the Minas Gerais government letterhead from the State's Official Press. Burlamaqui brought the paper to Rio de Janeiro, and Guimarães wrote the content, strictly imitating Artur Bernardes' handwriting. Once the letters were ready, Burlamaqui and Lacerda looked for friends and relatives of marshal Hermes da Fonseca to sell them, which did not happen. They then approached Artur Bernardes himself, proposing to sell the letters for 30 million réis, but received another refusal. Lacerda then sought out Irineu Machado, a senator for the Federal District and opponent of Bernardes. The letters reached Correio da Manhã through the senator, who appointed the newspaper's political writer, Mário Rodrigues. The public registry office refused recognition of the letters because it found the signatures "disparate", but Correio da Manhã still vehemently insisted on their authenticity.[3]
