Forget me: Figueiredo is the biographical account of a Presidency that redefined the life of an Army officer whose greatest aspiration was to advance in his military career, but whom destiny elevated to the most coveted political position in the country.
From the antagonistic combination of desire and reality emanates the unique character of João Baptista Figueiredo, the last president to lead Brazil during the military regime. A passionate horseman, he once confessed that he preferred horses to the very people he swore to serve, which speaks volumes about his controversial personality.
Amid erratic statements and frequent mood swings, aggravated by heart problems, Figueiredo pushed forward the process of political openness and, amid bombings and attacks, fulfilled what he had promised at his inauguration ceremony: "I will make this country a democracy again." He did. Having pardoned his political opponents, he was unable to pardon himself and slammed the door publicly demanding that they forget him. Figueiredo's intended oblivion, however, would deprive the country of the memory of one of the most controversial periods in national political life—the final chapter of the military dictatorship.
While biographies typically portray the subject's life chronologically, Forget Me: Figueiredo takes a different path: focusing on the period between 1979 and 1985, it seeks to detail the complex persona of the protagonist of the twilight of the military regime. To this end, the author, Bernardo Pasqualette, pored over a variety of research sources, including documents from the period and court records. He also conducted dozens of interviews with people who lived closely with the former president, such as José Sarney, Delfim Netto, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Ernane Galvêas, Carlos Langoni, Alfredo Karam, and Elio Gaspari, among others.
