A military government ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985. Arns' tireless campaigning against that government's human rights abuses made him a popular figure in Brazil. During the dictatorship he visited political prisoners and spoke out against the abuses of the military. Not long after Arns became Archbishop, police raided the home of a young priest and arrested him for organizing a campaign for increased wages for workers. When Arns was denied access to the imprisoned priest, he denounced the arrest on the Archdiocese's radio station and in its newspaper. He had a description of the priest's arrest and torture posted at the door of every church. The Latin American correspondent for the "National Catholic Reporter" described this as the beginning of "an open war between the archdiocese and the military." While his colleague Archbishop Helder Camara of Olinda and Recife had long played a direct role in politics, Arns opposed the regime while maintaining an apolitical posture, but with an uncompromising criticism that belied his short time as archbishop and his scholarly background.