3,000 days in the bunker

The book that inspired the film Real: The Plan Behind the Story .

At the end of the 20th century, in the wake of a president's ouster, a group of friends seized power in Brazil and did almost anything they wanted. 3,000 Days in the Bunker narrates this adventure like a microcamera, revealing behind-the-scenes glimpses of the loudest and quietest changes that shook up the country. From the economic plan born of a secret operation to circumvent the IMF, to the international coalition that created a political shield around Fernando Henrique Cardoso's team.

New York's financial heart pounding, the launch of the Brazilian BR-27 bond. Ringing bells, shouting, and the unthinkable: demand hits $45 billion, or 15 times what had been offered. It's the deal of the decade. The Brazilian team watches everything from a transparent box, suspended over the plain where the cattle stampede toward the papers they drew. Just below their feet, the sublime view had something dantesque. It was like being in paradise floating three meters above hell. And they were indeed. According to Gorbachev's Law, destiny granted only one guarantee to those who reform power: to have infernal enemies for life. And few would have as much power in Brazil as that group, which ended up at the top of the Planalto Palace in May 1993. In a scenario of a stopgap government, inherited from a deposed president and neighbor to a Congress in crisis, the window that gave access to the Republic's command cabin was left open. They arrived, looked, and entered. And they changed everything.