1923 federal intervention in Rio de Janeiro

1923 federal intervention in Rio de Janeiro
Report from O Brasil on the inauguration of Aurelino Leal
Date formed	10 January 1923
Date dissolved	23 December 1923
President	Artur Bernardes
Federal intervener	Aurelino Leal

Federal intervention in Rio de Janeiro was decreed by Brazilian president Artur Bernardes on 10 January 1923, installing the federal intervener Aurelino Leal at the head of the state's Executive branch. State president (governor) Raul Fernandes, sworn in on 31 December 1922 at the Ingá Palace, in Niterói, was being challenged by a parallel government led by Feliciano Sodré. Aurelino Leal called for new elections, in which the only candidate was Feliciano Sodré, who took over the government on 23 December 1923. During his administration, Leal dismantled the political machine of Nilo Peçanha's "Nilist" faction, the main force in Rio de Janeiro state politics in the previous two decades.

Peçanha had been an enemy of Bernardes since both ran in the turbulent 1922 presidential election. In June 1922, Sodré lost the state election to Nilist Raul Fernandes and the opposition deputies, prevented from entering the Legislative Assembly by the State Police Force, denounced the elections as irregular and organized a parallel assembly. The opposition did not control the public political machine nor the state's budget, but it counted on the strong arm of the federal government — the same one that Peçanha used against his opponents in Rio de Janeiro in 1910 and 1914. The possibility of a federal intervention hovered over Nilism for months, attracting attention in the press, against the backdrop of the state of emergency in force since the Copacabana Fort revolt.

Raul Fernandes took office as governor guaranteed by a writ of habeas corpus from the Supreme Federal Court (STF), with security provided by the Brazilian Army. Once in power, Fernandes was boycotted by the federal government. Violence spread throughout the state's countryside, in which oppositionists and police officers from the Federal District removed mayors, city councillors and other authorities, installing municipal governments loyal to Feliciano Sodré. The army did nothing for the municipal authorities and prevented the Police Force from being sent to the countryside. Bernardes convinced STF president Hermínio Francisco do Espírito Santo that the writ of habeas corpus had already been fulfilled. On 9 January, the Police Force rejected Raul Fernandes' authority.

The intervention decrees were justified based on the duality of state governments and the disorder in the countryside. The decrees diverged from the consolidated legal practice of federal intervention in Brazil until then, as they were enacted during parliamentary recess, without being requested by the state government, and investing the federal intervener with the same powers as the state president — including the appointment of public officials without connection to the Nilist machine. The measure transformed the state of Rio de Janeiro into an ally of the federal government, alongside the other dissident states in the 1922 election, Rio Grande do Sul and Bahia, which also faced crises resolved in favor of Artur Bernardes. Politicians and jurists supported the measure, despite criticism that it disregarded the STF's habeas corpus. In the long term, criticism prevailed that the crises in Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and Bahia were engineered by president Bernardes to take revenge on his opponents.