Hello and welcome to this edition of The Witness History Podcast from the BBC World

Service. We're bringing you stories from Brazil ahead of the presidential elections

in October. Today we're taking you back to 1985 when Brazil's return to democracy was

overshadowed by the sudden illness of Tancredo Neves, the first civilian president elect

in more than 20 years. In 2018 Simon Watts spoke to Tancredo's spokesperson Antonio Brito.

It's March the 14th 1985, the eve of the inauguration of Tancredo Neves as president of Brazil

and the end of military rule in the largest country in Latin America.

In Brazil and particularly in Brazil, everybody was at a party or a reception to celebrate what was going to happen the next day.

This is Antonio Brito, who was due to become spokesman for the first democratic government in Brazil since 1964.

I was about to go out myself when I got a call saying Tancredo was being rushed to hospital.

I was literally just putting on my dinner jacket, so I swapped it for a suit and headed for the hospital as well.

Tancredo Neves' sudden illness was a deeply traumatic event for Brazil.

Often known simply by his first name, Tancredo was a veteran moderate politician who'd led a campaign of huge

pro-democracy demonstrations the previous year.

Tancredo Neves helped Brazil take a shortcut on its way back to democracy.

He sped up the transition by gaining the respect and confidence of all sectors of society, including the military.

Tancredo Neves was elected president in January 1985 in the last vote under the military system.

It was around this time that the 75-year-old first began experiencing abdominal pain, but he was determined to keep going until his inauguration,

in case the military tried to renegade on their commitment to hand over power.

So he did what nobody should ever do.

He kept on putting off and putting off getting proper treatment.

He just took a few pills from the doctor without having any proper examination.

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