IT WAS NOT IMMEDIATELY APPARENT TODAY HOW THE STATUS OF THE 40,000 JEWS IN BRAZIL WILL BE AFFECTED, IF AT ALL, BY THE SUDDEN TRANSFORMATION OF BRAZIL INTO A CORPORATE STATE WITH A NEW CONSTITUTION GRANTING INDEFINITE DICTATORIAL POWERS TO PRESIDENT GETULIO VARGAS.
(THE INTEGRALISTAS, BRAZIL’S GREEN-SHIRTED, ANTI-SEMITIC FASCIST GROUP, ARE NOT SUPPORTING THE REGIME, AND A HAVAS NEWS AGENCY DISPATCH FROM MONTEVIDEO SAID THEY WERE PREPARED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE TROUBLED SITUATION AND ATTEMPT AN ARMED COUP.
(WHILE CENSORSHIP MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO OBTAIN A CLEAR PICTURE OF THE NEW SITUATION, WASHINGTON REPORTS INDICATED UNEASINESS IN OFFICIAL CIRCLES LEST FASCISM SPREAD AMONG LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES AND BRING THEM WITHIN THE SPHERE OF EUROPEAN DICTATORSHIPS. DISPATCHES REACHING BUENOS AIRES, HAVAS SAID, QUOTED A HIGH OFFICIAL AS DENYING THAT BRAZIL WOULD AD HERE TO THE ITALO-GERMAN-JAPANESE ANTI-COMMUNIST PACT. THE BERLIN AND ROME PRESS HAILED THE DEVELOPMENT IN BRAZIL OF AN AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENT.)
THE NEW GOVERNMENTAL SET-UP, ANNOUNCED YESTERDAY BY THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DISSOLVES THE FEDERAL CONGRESS, STATE ASSEMBLES AND MUNICIPAL COUNCILS AND ASSERTEDLY WAS DRAFTED AND PUT INTO FORCE TO COPE WITH INTERNAL UNREST, THREATENING GRAVE DISORDERS, ACCORDING TO HAVAS.
THE CHANGE IN THE BRAZILIAN REGIME WAS EFFECTED WITHIN 24 HOURS WITHOUT DISORDERS. THE SENATE AND THE CHAMBER WERE CLOSED YESTERDAY MORNING AND THE NEW DOCUMENT PROMULGATED LAST NIGHT. PRESIDENT VARGAS’ TENURE IS EXTENDED UNTIL A PLEBISCITE ON THE NEW CONSTITUTION IS HELD. NO DATE HAS BEEN SET FOR THIS PLEBISCITE.
THE SALIENT POINTS OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:
1–IT WILL MAINTAIN THE FEDERAL ORGANIZATION, WITH THE PRESENT POLITICAL AND TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS.
2–THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT WILL BE REPUBLICAN, PRESIDENTIAL AND REPRESENTATIVE.
3–THE LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY WILL BE COMPOSED OF TWO CHAMBERS — THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES WILL BE COMPOSED OF DEPUTIES ELECTED BY INDIRECT SUFFRAGE, AND THE FEDERAL COUNCIL WILL CONSIST OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTED BY THE STATE ASSEMBLIES, PLUS 10 MEMBERS NAMED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC.
4–A NATIONAL ECONOMY COUNCIL IS CREATED.
5–THE PRESIDENTIAL TERM IS SIX YEARS. (UNDER THE FORMER CONSTITUTION IT WAS FOUR YEARS).
6–The NEW CONSTITUTION WILL BE SUBMITTED TO A NATIONAL PLEBISCITE.
7–THE PRESIDENTIAL MANDATE IS EXTENDED UNTIL THE PLEBISCITE TAKES PLACE. UNTIL THAT TIME THE NEW CONSTITUTION IS THE LAW OF THE LAND.
8–THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ACCORDING TO THE NEW DOCUMENT, WILL BE CHOSEN BY AN ELECTORAL COLLEGE.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
