Search

Exorcismos de esti(l)o is one of Guillermo Cabrera Infante’s least studied books. It is nevertheless of essential importance for understanding the entirety of his poetics. It is a book that condenses the pain of the ostracism and the betrayal inflicted by the revolutionary regime that Cabrera had so strongly supported. The purpose of this article is to highlight the implicit elements of the text that support this hypothesis. It considers the strategies used by the author throughout Exorcismos de esti(l)o to practice the language with which he obsessively tries to draw, in his novelas del yo, a portrait of a lost and unrecoverable Havana, the hopeful Havana preceding the Cuban Revolution. It is an impossible yet obstinate mission. This is why the texts that articulate the impossibility of representation and the anguish that this mission generates deserve special attention.

O artigo examina a ascensão e a queda da empresa Engesa-Engenheiros Especializados, especialmente entre 1974 e 1990. O artigo é resultado de pesquisa com fontes documentais recentemente desclassificadas pelo Arquivo Nacional. A documentação consultada sugere que, na fase de ascensão, a Engesa foi impulsionada por uma eficiente vinculação entre indústria de defesa, exportação de armamento e política externa brasileira, principalmente durante os governos burocrático-autoritários de Ernesto Geisel e João Figueiredo. Entretanto, fragilidades financeiras e administrativas, junto a uma infrutuosa e dispendiosa tentativa de salto tecnológico, acabaram colocando a empresa em uma situação insustentável, conduzindo finalmente à sua queda e falência no início da década de 1990. A experiência da Engesa constitui um exemplo significativo nas pesquisas sobre inovação tecnológica, estudos estratégicos e relações internacionais.

The article examines the rise and fall of the firm Engesa-Engenheiros Especializados, especially between 1974 and 1990. The article is the result of research with documentary sources recently declassified by the National Archives. The consulted documentation suggests that, in its ascendant phase, Engesa was driven by an efficient link between the defense industry, arms exports, and Brazilian foreign policy, mainly during the bureaucratic-authoritarian governments of Ernesto Geisel and João Figueiredo. However, financial and administrative weaknesses, along with an unsuccessful and costly attempt to make a technological leap, put the firm in an unsustainable situation, finally leading to its fall and bankruptcy in the early 1990s. Engesa’s experience is a paradigmatic example in studies of technological innovation, strategic research, and international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article comparatively analyzes some converging aspects of the work of the German thinker Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) and the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano (1940–2015). Certain affinities are presented between the two authors with regard to the proposition of a critique of official history, as conceived from the ruling classes, in favor of recovering the memory of social groups subjected to violence and oppression. Also highlighted are the methodological correspondences on the use of analogies and metaphors by both authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades Brazil has consistently presented poor educational outcomes compared to its Latin American neighbors. The literature suggests that elite-biased policies might be a cause of this lag. This article presents further evidence that educational policies pursued by Brazilian federal governments were elite biased in the period 1930–1964. Although primary schooling was the responsibility of state governments, a significant amount of tax revenues were in the hands of the federal government. Therefore, federal policies were important determinants of educational outcomes at all school levels. Evidence collected in speeches and in educational finance data show that Brazilian education policies tended to give little importance to primary education. In particular, the article shows that under the governments of Getúlio Vargas and Juscelino Kubitschek, those most committed to the strategy of import substitution industrialization, education policies favored tertiary education for the elites at the expense of primary education for the masses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the military relations between Brazil and the United States during the 1940s and the first half of the 1950s, with a focus on the impact of those relations on the Brazilian army, especially the Exército Brasileiro. Subjects discussed include the anti-communism movement in the context of an ideological polarization in the Exército, the participation of Brazil in the Korean War, and the military agreement with the U.S. signed by the government of President Getúlio Vargas in 1952. Particular attention is given to the historical role of General Newton Estillac Leal, who was the ministry of war in the government of Vargas.