Read further · read 94.4% · known key applied · partial

A coded telegram from João Goulart to Ladislau Abreu, March 1946

A 20-word Portuguese telegram signed Jango, in an open code of cover words. The code list filed in the same archive, headed “Cifra (Ladislau para João Goulart)”, gives BARTOLOMEU as H. Borghi, so the telegram tells Ladislau Abreu to let him deal with the matter without any commitment. 17 of 18 words read; the last code word, VIVILA, boxed in ink, is on no list. The catalogue had the addressee as Getúlio Vargas.

Date
1946
Read now
94.4% of the cipher tokens give sense
Write-up
goulart1946.html
Files
targets/goulart1946
Open gaps
no key known ×2too short to break ×2hard to read on the scan

Hand this page to your AI agent

Give your agent (Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant that can open web pages) this address and ask it to do the task on the page:

https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/goulart1946.html

Or copy the block below into the chat. It is the whole task: the reading, every open gap, what has been tried, the steps, and how to report back.

TASK: take a partial decipherment further: A coded telegram from João Goulart to Ladislau Abreu, March 1946
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/goulart1946.html

You are helping a public research project finish reading historical cipher letters. This one is read in part:
the key works, but some pieces are still open. Your job is to close one or more of the open gaps below.

THE READING
  Write-up:   https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/goulart1946.html (read it first: how the text was read, the key, the reading)
  Date:       1946
  Outcome:    known key applied · partial
  Read now:   94.4% of the deciphered cipher tokens give sense (pieces below may be untouched)
  Files:      https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/tree/main/targets/goulart1946 (NOTES.md, key, transcription, reading, scripts)

OPEN GAPS (from NOTES.md, "## Remaining gaps")
  1. [no-key-material: needs a new source] VIVILA - blocker: no-key-material; boxed as code on the form, not on the typed list, not among the ink or pencil additions as read, not on the 1950 list, no OCR hit in the collection. Open. The scribble under it inside the box is not legible.
  2. [no-key-material: needs a new source] NEGOCIO - blocker: no-key-material; read as the plain word ('our business'); it may itself be agreed jargon not on the list.
  3. [illegible: needs a new source] Faint pencil on the code list - blocker: illegible; the four lines at the top right and the pencil name after Bartolomeu are read only in part (the name 'Ferreira', 'Ferraz' or 'Teixeira'; the independent review could not settle it either).
  4. [too-short: needs a new source] Direction of the ink additions on the code list - blocker: too-short; 'leader = representante' against 'crise = revolução' is not fixed, and no text in the code uses them.
  5. [too-short: needs a new source] Held-out test and key coverage - blocker: too-short; no second text in this code was found, so both rest on one telegram and on a single code word (BARTOLOMEU).

ALREADY TRIED (from NOTES.md, "## Escalation")
  [x] siblings: the two code lists named in the catalogue (GV c 1946/1950.00.00/5 and GV c 1950.02.00/1) opened and transcribed; DocReader full-text search of CorrespGV3 for BARTOLOMEU, VARELA and VIVILA, every BARTOLOMEU hit viewed
  [x] clear-pages: no decipherment or gloss on the telegram form; the code list sheet read with its ink and pencil additions
  [x] known-keys: both keys tried: GV c 1946/1950.00.00/5 resolves 1 of the 2 code words, GV c 1950.02.00/1 none
  [x] print: web searches only (3 and 12 Nov 2026, see Prior art); no edition or decoding of the telegram found; the published Vargas letters of 1946-50 ('Volta ao Poder') are another series and were not searched for VIVILA
  [x] retry: VIVILA checked again against the typed list, the ink and pencil additions and the 1950 list, by the solver and in the independent review

STEPS
0. Set up. If you can run a shell, fork and clone the repository and work inside it:
     git clone https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver.git
   Then read, in this order: CONTRIBUTING.md (how a contribution is sent and credited); README.md, sections
   "Repository layout" and "Conventions" (how readings are measured and named); targets/goulart1946/NOTES.md in full, and the
   key, transcription and reading files it names; lang/README.md (shared language models).
   Work in targets/goulart1946/. Add your findings to NOTES.md under a dated heading without rewriting what is there, and
   update the "## Remaining gaps" line of every gap you close. Keep WORKLOG.md there: one dated line per step
   (hypothesis, value tried, solver run, crib, control), failures included. Do not edit docs/ (the site is generated).
   If you cannot run a shell, fetch the files from the links above and keep your work in files you send with the issue.
1. Pick a gap. Start with the ones marked "doable now" (open-codes, not-attempted, left-open): the images and the key
   are online, so they need only work. A gap marked "needs a new source" (no-key-material, too-short, illegible,
   needs-physical-access) can be closed only by something new: a key
   or a deciphered sibling found elsewhere, a better image, a printed edition or calendar, a photograph from the archive.
   For those, search for that material first, and say where you looked even when you find nothing.
2. Start from the existing key and transcription in the folder. Do not rebuild the key from scratch, and do not
   re-read parts that are already read unless you find an error in them.
3. For a code group or sign value: list every place the group occurs, show how each reads with the value you propose,
   and say what still does not fit. For a passage: re-read it at the image and give the folio and line. For a missing
   letter or leaf: say where it is held and how it can be reached.
4. Measure again. Apply the key to the whole text, write the reading file, and count the share of cipher tokens that
   give sense (not an estimate). The reading is "complete" only when (1) at least 95% of its cipher tokens give sense;
   (2) no gap is left untried; (3) every letter in it is covered; (4) what stays open is scattered code groups or names,
   or pieces blocked from outside. Otherwise it stays "partial": say which gaps are still open and why.
5. Be honest. Mark every uncertain word with [?], leave unread groups as their numbers or signs, and never fill a gap
   with a plausible guess. A gap retried and still open, with what was ruled out, is worth reporting.

REPORT BACK
With a clone: open a pull request with your changes to targets/goulart1946/. Say in the description which gaps you worked on,
  the share read before and after, and how you want to be credited (name, initials or handle, and a link).
Without one: open an issue: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/issues/new?template=further-reading.yml&title=Further+reading%3A+goulart1946&page=goulart1946.html
  Give the write-up, the gap you worked on (its line in Remaining gaps, or the code group, folio and line), what you
  propose, the evidence (every occurrence, the images or sources), the share read before and after, your step log,
  and the tools and AI model you used.
If you cannot open issues or pull requests, write this report for your human to send. Credit goes to the person who sends it.

Open gaps

gold can be done now: the images and the key are online, it needs only work. grey needs a new source first: a key, a better scan, an edition or the archive.

Already tried

Send a result

One closed gap counts: a code group valued, a passage re-read, a key or clear copy found elsewhere. It is credited to you on the write-up.

Open a further-reading issueOther kinds of reportHow credit works← All partial readings