The body of former Brazilian President Joao Goulart has been exhumed almost 40-years after the ousted president died of what was believed to be a heart attack. Now it has been claimed that Goulart was murdered. Known as Jango, Goulart died in 1976 while living as an exile in Argentina. The President presided over Brazil for only three years before he was overthrown in 1964. A former Uruguayan intelligence officer has made the claim that agents of the military government presiding over the region poisoned President Goulart.
An exhumation team worked to remove Mr. Goulart's body from his grave in Soa Borja, Brazil on Wednesday. His body will undergo tests to determine if there is any truth to the claim the president was poisoned. After being ousted in 1964 Goulart first fled to Uruguay before going to Argentina. Goulart was invited to Argentina by the country's president Juan Peron in 1976. The claim that Goulart was poisoned was made five-years ago by Mario Neira who had been jailed for smuggling drugs.
Neira is said to have accused military spies working on behalf of Brazil's government of switching Goulart's heart medicine for pills that would trigger a cardiac arrest. Brazil's National Truth Commission is currently looking into Niera's claims. "We are taking the first big step to tell the truth that for many years has been omitted," said Goulart's son Joao Vicente on the Truth Commission website. "Families have the right to know how their loved ones died and a country's citizens have the right to know how their leaders died," said Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo to the Associated Press.
The exhumation of Goulart's body was approved in 2012. Once removed from his grave the Human Rights Ministry will take the body to Brasilia. Once in Brasilia Goulart will be examined by Brazilian, Argentine and Uruguayan forensic experts. After the tests are complete Goulart will be given full state honors, which he did not receive upon his death. President Goulart will be returned to his grave on Dec. 6.
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