Golbery do Couto e Silva

Golbery do Couto e Silva (August 21, 1911 – September 18, 1987) was a General in Brazil's Army, an intellectual, as well as a politician.

General Golbery do Couto e Silva
Chief of Staff of the Presidency
In office March 15, 1974 – August 6, 1981
President	Ernesto Geisel (1974–79) João Figueiredo (1979–81)
Preceded by	João Leitão de Abreu
Succeeded by	João de Carvalho Oliveira
Minister of the Federal Court of Accounts
In office March 30, 1967 – September 18, 1968
Appointed by	Artur da Costa e Silva
Preceded by	Antônio Brochado da Rocha
Succeeded by	Guilhermino de Oliveira
Head of the National Intelligence Service
In office June 25, 1964 – March 15, 1967
President	Castelo Branco
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Emílio Garrastazu Médici
Personal details
Born	August 21, 1911 Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Died	September 18, 1987 (aged 76) São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Political party	ARENA

Biography

Golbery do Couto e Silva was born in Rio Grande, a city in the Southern State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. At the age of 16, he joined the Military School of Realengo, Rio de Janeiro, which bred officials for the country's Army.[1] On November 22, 1930, he graduated first among all classes becoming an Aspirant Officer. His Combat Arms Branch was Infantry, and by 1932 he was among the 9th Infantry Regiment quenching the 1932 Revolution in São Paulo.

As a lieutenant, he also served in the 6th Infantry Regiment. In May 1937 he was promoted to Captain and began to serve on the National Security Council. Later he was sent to Curitiba in the state of Parana. Soon after, he was assigned to Joinville, serving in the 13th Chasseurs' Brigade.

In December 1940, he was the only official who was accepted to join Brazil's Army's Higher Command and Staff Course. By the time he graduated, in August 1943, he was appointed to serve at the 3rd Military Region, in Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. A year later, in 1944, he trained with the US Army and was soon appointed to serve in the Second World War at the Brazilian Expeditionary Force as an Intelligence Officer remaining in the position until the end of the war.

Returning to Brazil in October 1946, Captain Golbery do Couto e Silva was reassigned to the state of Rio Grande do Sul and then to Rio de Janeiro when promoted to Army Major and appointed to serve at the Army's Higher Command.

Golbery's path to the highest rank included participating in a Military Mission to Paraguay thenceforth 1947, where he remained for three years. By 1951, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and assigned to serve as Deputy Head of the Army's Information Division. As of 1952, he had been designated Deputy Head of the Studies Department within Brazil's War College's Division for International Affairs, later being assigned to the college's Executive Division.

Passing by Belo Horizonte, he was later reassigned to the Army's Higher Command, now as a Colonel, serving in the Operations Division within the Sub-Division of Doctrine. In 1960, he was promoted to Army General and, until February 1961, he was Head of the Operations Division under the Army's Higher Command. In September 1961, serving as Chief of Staff at the National Security Council's General Secretariat, Golbery retired from the military.

As a civilian, he headed the Institute for Social Studies and Research, a conservative think tank based in Rio de Janeiro. After the civilian-military coup d'État on March 31, 1964, he was appointed Head of Brazil's secret service, the National Information Service, later serving as Chief of Staff under the terms of Army General Geisel and of Army General Figueiredo, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The Doctrine of National Security

In 1955, Brazil's Army's Publisher launched Golbery's Planejamento Estratégico (Strategic Planning). His contributions in the form of books did not stop there.

In Geopolítica do Brasil (Brazil's Geopolitics), launched in 1966, he forged the notion of a National Security Doctrine underscoring the intrinsic relationship between security and development. Aiming to reclaim the debate from an ideological spectrum that allegedly corrupted Brazil's national interests and identity, his argument revolved around the imperative of an active role played by the State in the economy, which would trickle down as a measure of national security. The book is considered to be seminal for Brazil's civilian-military authoritarian regime.[2][3]

At age 76, he passed in São Paulo.

References

1. Couto e Silva, Golbery (1981). "Conjuntura Política Nacional: o Poder Executivo" & "Geopolítica do Brasil". Rio de Janeiro: Livraria José Olympio Editora. pp. ix–x.
2. The relevance of Golbery do Couto e Silva (in Portuguese)
3. Rethinking Golbery (in Portuguese)