BRAZIL: You'd Better Show Up

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Brasilia, built in haste and dedicated in confusion, was now facing the morning after. The air conditioning in the bowl-and-dome-shaped Congress would not work; phones and elevators were out of order; only four ministry buildings were ready for occupancy. Government press headquarters had not a single typewriter; high officials tried to make do without files, without secretaries or messenger boys.

When a torrential rain turned the crust of dust to gumbo, Brazil's officials gave up and retreated. Back to Rio went Finance Minister Sebastião Paes de Almeida, leaving behind an eight-man outpost. Public Works Minister Ernani do Amaral Peixoto sat in Rio signing documents datelined Brasilia and confidentially told visitors: "Officially, I'm in Brasilia." Of eleven Ministers who originally appeared, eight departed. After a quick ten-minute inaugural session, the Supreme Court recessed to June 30; the Senate, without furniture, recessed to June 1.

President Juscelino Kubitschek. creator of Brasilia, was enraged. To the Health Minister he snapped, "If you don't return, you'd better resign." To his Labor Minister he said: "Better show up here soon." When there were still only five Ministers for a Cabinet session, Kubitschek passed the word to all hooky players: "I'm accepting resignations." Back came the Cabinet—eight by week's end. Kubitschek pressured the Senate into returning May 16, ordered every Institute president to the capital within eight days, and decreed a full eight-hour working day for Brasilia's civil servants, who used to set their own hours. He added: "I want basic city services functioning within four months. I want to leave my successor a living capital."