João Figueiredo

President of Brazil

João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo 15 January 1918 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

24 December 1999(1999-12-24) (81) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

15 March 1979 – 14 March 1985

30th President of Brazil For the Portuguese politician, see João Cotrim de Figueiredo. In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Oliveira and the second or paternal family name is Figueiredo. João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo (Portuguese:  ; 15 January 1918 – 24 December 1999) was a Brazilian military leader and politician who was the 30th President of Brazil, the last of the military regime that ruled the country following the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état. He was chief of the Secret Service (SNI) during the term of his predecessor, Ernesto Geisel, who appointed him to the presidency at the end of his own mandate. He took the oath of office on 15 March 1979, serving until 14 March 1985. He continued the process of redemocratization that Geisel had started and sanctioned a law decreeing amnesty for all political crimes committed during the regime. His term was marked by a severe economic crisis and growing dissatisfaction with the military rule, culminating in the Diretas Já protests of 1984, which clamored for direct elections for the Presidency, the last of which had taken place 24 years prior. Figueiredo opposed this and in 1984 Congress rejected the immediate return of direct elections, in favor of an indirect election by Congress, which was nonetheless won by the opposition candidate Tancredo Neves. Figueiredo retired after the end of his term and died in 1999.