A bloodless coup d’état in Brazil led to the ousting of President Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, marking the end of the Old Republic.
President Washington Luís was deposed by the heads of the armed forces just 4 years after he came to office. The coup prevented President-elect Júlio Prestes from coming to power and the military junta instead installed Getúlio Vargas as the de facto President of the country. The coup was in part a response to the government’s “coffee with milk policy”, which allowed governance power to be alternated between the coffee producing state of São Paulo and the milk producing state of Minas Gerais. This policy led to a rebellion in some parts of the country, which in turn prompted the army to take action against the government.