Autopsy on remains of Brazilian President Joao Goulart are inconclusive, minister says

RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil's human rights minister say an autopsy on the late President Joao Goulart was inconclusive.

Ideli Salvatti says the autopsy did not turn up evidence Goulart was poisoned, as his family suspects. It also failed to prove he died of a heart attack, which was the official cause of death.

Goulart was toppled by a 1964 coup that installed the military regime that ruled Latin America's biggest country for 21 years.

He went into exile in Argentina, where he died in 1976. His body was returned to Brazil, where he was buried. An autopsy was never performed.

Suspicions about Goulart's possible poisoning stem from a 2008 interview with a former Uruguayan intelligence officer.

Speaking Monday, Salvatti said last year's exhumation of Goulart's body represented a victory for democracy.