The People's Thief

For the 18 years that he has been running the gaudiest one-man show in Brazilian politics, Sao Paulo's millionaire ex-Governor Adhemar de Barros has plopped in and out of hot water like a boardinghouse soup bone. Opponents hinted freely at slush funds, financial skulduggery, and the existence of a "little box" filled to overflowing with bundles of boodle for political pals. Even last year, when Adhemar (as all Brazilians call him) was running for the presidency, he faced a charge that, while governor from 1947 to 1951 he had passed out 3,000,000 cruzeiros' worth of Chevrolet cars and trucks to his churns. Through it all, though, Adhemar treated such charges with good-natured indifference. "You people believe I'm a thief," he said in a speech. "You're right. I'm a thief. But I steal only for you, for the people of Brazil!"

Last week, to the stunned amazement of all Brazil, Adhemar was back in the soup. Briskly reversing an earlier acquittal, Sao Paulo's state supreme court found Adhemar guilty of giving away five state-owned trucks, and sentenced him to two years in jail and five years' suspension of his civil rights, i.e., his all-important right to run for governor of Sao Paulo in 1958 or President again in 1960. The latter penalty was a grievous blow for Adhemar; he ran a close third in last October's na tional election, racked up a solid 25.7% of the total vote, and was already organizing for the 1960 presidential campaign.

Behind the new court decision were the unmistakable signs of fancy footwork--and knifework--by Adhemar's foes. The Sao Paulo prosecuting attorney had to look long and hard to find a legal device for reopening the Chevrolet case, but find it he did. In his earlier acquittal, Adhe-mar had been tried for diverting automobiles to his personal profit. No mention, the prosecutor ruled, was made of five trucks that were also part of the deal. Accordingly, the 28-man court (complete with nine new members appointed in recent months by Adhemar's archrival, Governor Janio Quadros) convened early one afternoon last week, studied the truck charges against the absent defendant and passed sentence at 3:35 the next morning by a vote of 16 to 12.

To duck the humiliation and inconvenience of arrest, Adhemar took to his (Beechcraft and flew off to Asuncion, Paraguay, leaving his lawyers to seek a writ of habeas corpus from the federal supreme court and deploy themselves for an appeal. As a matter of course, Adhemar issued a manifesto before he took off. "My flag will not be lowered," it read. "Without hatred or rancor for those who attacked me so cruelly, I ask the people to wait quietly for better days. Justice is often tardy, but sure."

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