Emílio Garrastazu Médici (; 4 December 1905 – 9 October 1985) was a Brazilian military leader and politician who was the president of Brazil from 1969 to 1974. His authoritarian rule marked the apex of the Brazilian military regime. Early life Médici was born in Bagé, Rio Grande do Sul state. From his father's side, he was the grandson of Italian immigrants who went to Uruguay and then moved to Brazil. On his mother's side he descended from Basques. In the 1920s he entered military school at Porto Alegre and then the Army where he was steadily promoted, becoming general in 1961. Throughout the 1950s he served as a commander of reserve forces before being appointed chief of staff to Artur da Costa e Silva from 1957 to 1960. After the military coup Médici became Brazil's military attache to the USA from 1964–1966. In 1967 Médici was appointed chief of the National Intelligence Service of Brazil. Presidency (1969–1974) In 1969 he became commander of the Third Army and was chosen to become President of Brazil by the Brazilian Military Junta of 1969, succeeding Costa e Silva, who had suffered a stroke. As the President was elected by National Congress, it had to be re-convened for this purpose after being dismissed by Costa e Silva. Médici was the only candidate, though since the legislature was dominated by the pro-military National Renewal Alliance Party (ARENA), his election would have been a foregone conclusion in any case. The legislature elected him by a margin of 313–0, with 56 abstentions. Médici took the oath on 30 October 1969 and served until the end of his term on 15 March 1974. Domestic policy Médici ruled under a 1967 Constitution which had been amended a few months earlier to be even more authoritarian than its predecessor. This constitution, along with the Institutional Act Number Five (AI-5, which gave the government sweeping powers to censor the press and restrict civil rights), formed the legal basis for some of the most severe human rights abuses of the military's two-decade rule. He made liberal use of torture and strict press censorship. The importation of the men's magazines Playboy, Penthouse and Lui, as well as the West German news magazine Der Spiegel, was banned because they offended "morality and proper behavior". His regime also spied on political opponents, many of whom were tortured and disappeared. He and his predecessor, Costa