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January 9th was the 200-year anniversary of the Dia do Fico, when on 1822 prince Pedro, who was regent in Brazil after John IV was recalled to Lisbon by the Portuguese parliament, refused parliament's demand for his return to Portugal. He remained in the New World and would in time become Emperor. After a liberal revolution in 1820 the Portuguese were trying to recentralize their empire in Lisbon after the bizarre condition of rule from Rio de Janeiro. September 7th will be officially the bicentennial of independence. Allegedly Pedro said: > If it is for the good of the people and the general happiness of the Nation, I'm ready! Tell the people I'll stay (Diga ao povo que fico) Except he didn't say that, the record was changed and the original declaration was a lot less nationalistic: > Convinced that my presence in Brazil is of interest to the entire Portuguese nation, and aware that the wish of some provinces demands such, I've delayed my departure until the Cortes and my father decide on this matter So he didn't use the word fico and even spoke to the Portuguese nation, he wasn't aware the situation would evolve into secession. Independence happened with stark differences from anywhere else in the New World, and has several aspects poorly understood, or not at all, by the general public: the War of Independence, which left a few thousand dead but whose mere existence was implicitly denied for a long time, loyalist sentiment among many in the northern provinces and a strong pro-Brazilian sentiment in Portuguese Angola, where many sought to be part of the new state. I'm not well versed in those topics, just aware of their existence. I do have plenty to write up on the 60s: the failed coup d'état of 1961, which happened on a similar playing field to that of 1964 and yet had the opposite result, and the relation between the coup and the local communists, the wider Cold War, the Eastern Bloc and the geopolitical situation in Latin America.