The New Régime in Brazil
ON November 10, 1937, Rio de Janeiro awoke to find the Senate and Chamber of Deputies surrounded by pickets of mounted Military Police. A few hours later President Getulio Vargas abolished the existing Constitution and imposed one of his own manufacture. Brazilians as well as foreigners have referred to those events as a coup d'état. But that term implies illegality, violence and surprise, and is not quite accurate as a summary of what happened. The illegality of Dr. Vargas' act was of course flagrant: the Constitution was abolished by the very man who was its chief custodian.
Source: foreignaffairs.com