Coup Atlas Research Database
← Back to explorer
14002111956AttemptedMilitary coup

Brazil, 1956 — military coup attempt

Brazil (BRA)South America, AmericasFebruary 11, 1956

Event Summary

The dataset records an attempted military coup in Brazil on 11 February 1956, weeks after President Juscelino Kubitschek took office on 31 January 1956 amid intense military factionalism following the suicide of Getulio Vargas and the constitutionalist crisis of November 1955. Kubitschek had been guaranteed his inauguration only by the preventive countercoup of War Minister General Henrique Teixeira Lott in November 1955, which blocked hardline anti-Kubitschek officers from annulling the election. The new government faced continued plotting from that defeated faction, most visibly in the Jacareacanga revolt of an air force group later that month.

The February 1956 attempt did not unseat Kubitschek, who governed through his full term, launched the construction of the new capital Brasilia, and handed power to his elected successor Janio Quadros in 1961.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Juscelino Kubitschek survived and completed his term, handing power to an elected successor in 1961
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Juscelino Kubitschek (president of Brazil, target)
Henrique Teixeira Lott (war minister who had guaranteed the inauguration)
Anti Kubitschek air force and army officers (plotters)

Sources

Juscelino Kubitschek served as president of Brazil from 31 January 1956 to 31 January 1961 and is known for building the new capital Brasilia.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Juscelino Kubitschek open source ↗
On 11 November 1955 War Minister General Henrique Teixeira Lott launched a preventive countercoup to guarantee the inauguration of president elect Kubitschek and vice president elect Joao Goulart, blocking officers who sought to prevent them from taking office.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, 1955 Brazilian coup d'etat open source ↗
In February 1956, shortly after Kubitschek's inauguration, a group of air force officers launched the Jacareacanga revolt against the new government, which was suppressed.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Aragarcas and Jacareacanga revolts open source ↗
Kubitschek governed through his full term and peacefully handed power to his elected successor Janio Quadros in 1961, a rare completed civilian term in the volatile period between Vargas and the 1964 military coup.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Juscelino Kubitschek open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete documentation of a coup attempt precisely on 11 February 1956 was found in accessible English sources this session; the dataset date falls in the same month as the Jacareacanga air force revolt, which the entry frames, though the exact 11 February event is unconfirmed, flagged. Sits between the November 1955 Lott countercoup and the 1964 coup in the Brazil arc.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
14002111956

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Juscelino Kubitschek survived and completed his term, handing power to an elected successor in 1961.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

The Sun

“2 Brazil Officers Leading Rebellion,” February 19, 1956

New York Times

“REVOLT IN JUNGLE PERPLEXES BRAZIL: Seizure of Plane in Rio Has Grown Into Control of 3 Fields by Small Group Rebellion,” by Tad Szulc, February 19, 1956
“BRAZIL WAITING OUT JANGLE REBELLION,” February 20, 1956
“BRAZIL INSURGENTS TALKING OF VICTORY,” February 22, 1956

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

Know something about this event?
Tips are reviewed against sources before anything is added.