70 Brazil, military dictatorship in (1964–1985) Mexican workers at the border await legal employment in the United States, February 3, 1954 an opportunity to reconnect with kin on the U.S side of the border After completing the terms of their contracts, many braceros opted to stay in the United States illegally or to return to Mexico and cross the border clandestinely at a later time The program also made major contributions to the development of commercial agriculture in the U.S Southwest While the terms of the original agreement mandated a minimum wage of 30 cents per hour, humane working conditions, and free round-trip transportation between Mexico and sites of employment, in practice the U.S companies hiring bracero laborers frequently failed to adhere to these requirements Unauthorized and sometimes exorbitant deductions for food, housing, medical attention, and other necessities were common, as were abusive practices such as substandard food and housing, poor sanitary conditions, physical intimidation, and violence The program was briefly halted in 1948 in response to a decision by Texas cotton growers to pay braceros $2.50 per hundred weight, while non-braceros earned $3.00 The Mexican government responded by suspending the program, an impasse resolved with a U.S government apology and a new agreement in 1951 under U.S Public Law 78 (sometimes called the “second” Bracero Program), which continued until 1964 (with successive “temporary” extensions in 1954, 1956, 1958, and 1961) Through the 1950s, an estimated 300,000 Mexicans worked as braceros annually In order to combat illegal immigration and the tendency of many braceros to remain in the United States without authorization, in 1954 the U.S government launched “Operation Wetback,” a program intended to repatriate unauthorized Mexicans, which also resulted in the deportation of some U.S citizens By the mid-1950s such repatriations reached a high of 3.8 million The Bracero Program is the subject of an expansive literature The most rigorous early scholarly investigation was by the Mexican-American scholar and activist Dr Ernesto Galarza, whose book Merchants of Labor (1964) is considered a classic in the field Testifying repeatedly before the U.S Congress and other government bodies, Galarza and others finally persuaded lawmakers to end the program The program’s termination coincided with the rise of the National Farmworkers Association (later United Farmworkers of America, UFW), led by labor organizer Cesar Chavez In many ways, the ending of the Bracero Program—and the glut of cheap migrant labor it provided—made possible the rise of the UFW Further reading Galarza, Ernesto Merchants of Labor: The Mexican Bracero Story Charlotte, CA: McNally and Loftin, 1964; Gonzalez, Gilberto G Guest Workers or Colonized Labor?: Mexican Labor Migration to the United States Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2006 Michael J Schroeder Brazil, military dictatorship in (1964–1985) Following a recurring pattern in Brazilian history (1889, 1930, 1937, 1945), in 1964 a group of military officers overthrew the civilian government of João Goulart (1961–64), installing a military dictatorship that ruled for the next 21 years The roots of the crisis prompting the coup have been traced to a confluence of events from the mid-1950s These included a dramatic upsurge in leftist political movements, parties, and unions among urban and rural dwellers, encouraged by civilian leaders and intensifying after the 1959 Cuban revolution, combined with a growing economic crisis marked by high inflation (nearly 90 percent in 1964) and foreign debt ($3 billion), huge budget deficits ($1.1 billion in 1964); declining foreign investment, and eroding middle-class support With U.S backing, on March 31, 1964, a group of officers headed by General Humberto Castello Branco seized power Castello Branco ruled as president until 1967, his principal goal economic stabilization Reforms