"Democracy is coming. Smile!": memories about the AI-5 and democratic perspectives in the state of Paraná

Enacted in December 1968, Institutional Act number 5 (AI-5) was in force until December 1978, having stiffened repression and legitimized truculent actions, political persecution, censorship, among other arbitrary practices by agents of the Brazilian military dictatorship. With the fall of the AI-5, in January 1979, new perspectives and possibilities for the future of Brazil began to be seen on the political horizon of the country. In 1988, in the state of Parana, different newspapers published reports concerning the twentieth anniversary of the implementation of the AI-5 in Brazil. Based on these statements, we aim to reflect on the narratives elaborated by the Parana written media in reference to the AI-5 in two different moments: 1979 and 1988. We analyzed some reports published by the newspapers Correio de Noticias and Diario do Parana in early 1979, after the end of the AI-5, as well as a dossier produced by agents of the National Information Service (SNI), which points to publications by the newspapers Folha de Londrina and O Estado do Parana about the twenty years of AI 5. With the end of AI-5, there was a mix of enthusiasm for the expected democracy and fear about a possible military setback.