Independence hero's heart in Brazil for bicentennial

Brazil is set to mark the 200th anniversary of its independence with the heart of Emperor Pedro I, a beloved figure in Brazilian and Portuguese history. Pedro I declared Brazil's independence from Portugal in 1822.

The heart has been loaned to Brazil by the Portuguese city of Porto, where it currently resides. It was separated from Dom Pedro's body upon his death and has been preserved in formaldehyde inside a glass jar in a golden urn ever since. The rest of the former emperor's body rests in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.

"Today the heart of this national hero, the first emperor of Brazil, returns home to our soil. This important relic represents the bravery, passion and above all the immeasurable strength of our first emperor," Defense Minister Paulo Sergio Nogueira said at a ceremony on Monday to welcome the organ at an air base in Brasilia. 

The heart was received in Brasilia like a formal state visit, and received military honors.  

"It will be treated as if Dom Pedro I were alive and with us... just as if it were a state visit by a foreign leader," said Alan Coelho, chief of ceremonial protocol at the Brazilian foreign ministry. 

Who was Pedro I 

Dom Pedro fled to Brazil escorted by the British navy with his family as a nine-year-old boy, when French leader Napoleon Bonaparte's army invaded Portugal in 1807. He stayed behind to rule the then-colony of Portugal. 

Going against his father King Joao VI's wishes, Pedro I declared Brazil an independent country on September 7, 1822, and became its first emperor. 

He returned to Portugal, as his younger brother tried to usurp the throne and turn it back to a monarchy from a constitutional government. But Pedro I led forces into Porto in support of the constitutionalists, winning the power struggle.

He ultimately died of tuberculosis in 1834, at the age of 35. He was celebrated in both Brazil and Portugal as a champion of liberal causes and representative rule. At his request, his heart was removed and kept in Porto.  

His remains were donated to Brazil in 1972 for the 150th commemoration of independence and are kept in a museum in Sao Paulo. 

What is on the heart’s agenda 

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will hold an official ceremony for the heart on Tuesday. The nine-kilogram (20-pound) urn will then go on display for 17 days at the foreign ministry headquarters, Itamaraty Palace. 

The heart will be under surveillance of a police officer sent by Porto city, before being returned on September 8. 

Some have criticized parading the heart, saying it is reminiscent of when Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-1985) brought the rest of Pedro I's body back from Portugal, in 1972. 

"This is going to be a farce by Bolsonaro, welcoming this heart like a visiting dignitary," historian Lilia Schwarcz, who has written books on Pedro I and Brazilian independence, told AFP. 

tg/jcg(AFP, Reuters)