Cover of the 1968 album Caetano Veloso, the artist’s second

Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso were arrested without trial on December 27, 1968, and detained for 57 days. They were ordered to stay within the confines of their home state, Bahia, after release and were ‘invited’ to leave the country shortly thereafter. To this day it is unclear exactly why Gil and Veloso were targeted specifically, perhaps it was their popularity among the youth, or their eccentricity and general aversion to the establishment, or a combination of both. In an interview given shortly before leaving for exile, Veloso attempted an explanation for his and Gil’s persecution:

“I guess they don’t like what we do. They just don’t seem able to stand anything open-ended . . . Anything that they cannot force and control.”

Gil and Veloso’s arrest and exile was just one more episode of cultural repression that worked to mobilize opposition to the military regime abroad. Click here to read international and national coverage of the incident.