Brazilian politician
Jose Serra Chirico
(
Portuguese pronunciation:
[?u?z?
?s???]
; born 19 March 1942) is a Brazilian politician who has served as a Congressman, Senator, Minister of Planning, Minister of Health,
Mayor of Sao Paulo
, Governor of
Sao Paulo state
, and
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Serra in 1947
Jose Serra was born in the
Sao Paulo
neighbourhood of
Mooca
[1]
to Francesco Serra,
[2]
an
Italian
immigrant from
Corigliano Calabro
,
Calabria
,
[3]
and Serafina Chirico, a Brazilian born to
Italian
parents.
[4]
Serra comes from a
lower middle class
family. His father was semi-illiterate and worked as a fruit vendor in a market of Sao Paulo, but he was able to enroll his only child in college.
[5]
[6]
In the early 1960s, he was a prominent member of the socio-political movement Acao Popular which opposed the conservative political system that existed at the time.
[7]
Serra interrupted his studies in engineering at age 22 and left the country in 1964, after the coup that established the military government in Brazil.
[8]
Serra came to the attention of the authorities having served as President of the
Uniao Nacional dos Estudantes
(UNE), (National Student Union) which opposed the existing conservative regime while he was a 4th year engineering student at the Polytechnic School at the
University of Sao Paulo
.
Jose Serra was in exile from 1964 to 1978 in Bolivia, France, Chile, and the United States. In Chile, he did his master's degree in Economics and taught economics at the
University of Chile
(Universidad de Chile). There he also married Monica Allende (1967), then a top ballerina at the National Ballet of Chile. They had two children, Veronica (1969) and Luciano (1973). In the United States Jose Serra was awarded a Masters and Ph.D. in economics at
Cornell University
(
Ithaca, NY
)
[9]
and later spent 2 years at the
Institute for Advanced Study
in
Princeton, NJ
.
On returning to Brazil after the political amnesty in 1978, Serra lectured in economics at the
University of Campinas
, did research for Cebrap, and wrote for the newspaper
Folha de S. Paulo
.
Political career
[
edit
]
In 1982 he was appointed Sao Paulo's State Secretary for Economics and Planning under
Franco Montoro
's governorship, and became an influential secretary of Montoro's government. In 1986 and 1990 he was elected and then reelected to Congress. In 1994 he was elected Senator for the State of Sao Paulo with more than 6.5 million votes.
His first bid for the mayorship of the City of Sao Paulo came in 1988 in an election won for the
Worker's Party
(PT) by
Luiza Erundina
. He ran again in 1996, resigning as Minister of Planning to participate in the election for mayor, which was won by
Celso Pitta
. Pitta was the designated successor of mayor
Paulo Maluf
, who headed the right-wing populist
Progressive Party
(PP). After another stint as minister in the federal government, Serra ran for president on behalf of the PSDB party in 2002. He was beaten by four-time candidate and PT founder
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
in the second round.
In every elections since 1988 Serra represented the
Brazilian Social Democracy Party
(PSDB), which he helped found in 1988 alongside former and future Sao Paulo State governors Franco Montoro and Mario Covas and future Brazilian president
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
, from a split in the
Brazilian Democratic Movement Party
(PMDB). PSDB was seen as a coalition of democrats, liberals and social democrats with more centrist outlook than the leftist
Workers' Party
(PT) of presidents Lula da Silva and
Dilma Rousseff
. Both parties have great support in Sao Paulo state, but the state has been governed by the PSDB since 1994.
Serra came to political prominence under
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
's presidency (1994?2002), when he was appointed minister of planning, and later minister of health. During Serra's tenure in the Health Ministry, the
generic drug
industry, which gave wider access to medicines to a poor population, and ANVISA, the Brazilian food and drug regulatory agency, were both created. All forms of tobacco advertising were banned, and cigarette packages were required to display images of smoking-related diseases.
Mayor of Sao Paulo
[
edit
]
Serra was elected mayor of Sao Paulo in 2004, defeating incumbent
Marta Suplicy
in the second round. Serra created the
Virada Cultural
, a 24-hour cultural festival inspired by the French
Nuit Blanche
.
[10]
He also established the
Bilhete Unico
system in the
Sao Paulo Metro
subway system.
Serra sought nomination as the PSDB candidate for president in the
2006 elections
, but on March 14, 2006, decided to run instead for governor of the state of Sao Paulo. He resigned as mayor of Sao Paulo, although he had signed a pledge to finish his four-year term.
[11]
Gilberto Kassab
, the deputy mayor, took office and remained the mayor until 2012. Serra won the governor's race and on January 1, 2007, took office as the
Governor of Sao Paulo State
.
Governor Serra with
Pope Benedict XVI
during the latter's visit to Brazil, May 10, 2007
Controversy
[
edit
]
Subway cartel
[
edit
]
Cases of
corruption
and
cartel formation
involving Jose Serra are relatively old, both in Brazil and abroad.
[12]
[13]
Two interlinked controversies:
Brazilian oil fields
[
edit
]
Serra's campaign was supported by American oil companies such as
ExxonMobil
and
Chevron
. He secretly promised to sell the rights to Brazil's newest petroleum discoveries in the
pre-salt layer
to those companies, reversing the model of da Silva.
[16]
Serra ended state-owned oil company
Petrobras
' role as the chief operator of the pre-salt oil fields, which have an estimated value of three trillion dollars
[17]
? twice the size of Brazil's
gross domestic product
(GDP).
[18]
WikiLeaks
released several documents showing that Serra promised protection to Chevron
[19]
in order to transfer control from
Petrobras
in case of election victory.
[20]
Role in Brazilian politics today
[
edit
]
| This section needs to be
updated
.
Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
(
July 2022
)
|
Serra was the presidential candidate of the incumbent
Brazilian Social Democracy Party
(PSDB) party in
2002
, an election he lost to
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
(Lula). In 2004, he was elected mayor of Sao Paulo in a run-off election with 55% of the votes after he signed a public commitment to stay in office for the full term. Nevertheless, he resigned after 15 months to run for governor of Sao Paulo in
2006
, and was elected in the first round with almost 60% of the vote.
Serra during the annual meeting of PSDB, in which he announced his pre-candidacy, 10 April 2010.
Serra announced another run for the Brazilian presidency as the PSDB candidate in the
2010 elections
. He received support from his party, as well as the
Socialist People's Party
(PPS) and the
Democrats
(DEM). His primary opposition in the election was
Workers' Party
(PT) candidate
Dilma Rousseff
.
[21]
Serra's candidacy received support from
O Estado de S. Paulo
[22]
and British newspaper
Financial Times
.
[23]
In the first-round voting October 3, 2010, an unexpectedly strong showing from
Green Party
candidate
Marina Silva
forced a second round run-off election between Serra and Rousseff on October 31, 2010, which Rousseff won 56% to 44%.
In February 2012, Serra announced he would run for mayor of Sao Paulo, which would have resulted in his second non-consecutive term, though he had left the first one before it ended.
[24]
In the
second round
of the
2012 municipal elections
he was defeated by
Fernando Haddad
, the Workers' Party candidate.
[25]
In August 2021, Serra was diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease
and went in a medical leave from the Senate, returning in February 2022.
[26]
He later decided to run for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies after an invitation made by the Social Democracy Party.
[27]
Serra got 88,926 votes, placing 5th in the PSDB list, not being elected for Congress.
[28]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Costa, Florencia (2009-11-11).
"Os Brasileiros do Ano 2004 - Jose Serra"
.
IstoE
. Retrieved
2010-01-26
.
- ^
Furtado, Bernardino; Friedlander, David (2002-10-21).
"SERRA. O candidato enfrentou o funil da mobilidade social, a ditadura e o exilio antes de se tornar um dos principais politicos do Brasil"
.
Epoca
. Retrieved
2009-08-22
.
- ^
Veja Sao Paulo (2004-10-27).
"Tenho mais medo de inveja do que de colesterol alto"
. Archived from
the original
on 2011-06-15
. Retrieved
2009-08-22
.
- ^
Folha Online (10 February 2006).
"TRE-SP confirma vitoria de Serra no 1º turno"
. Retrieved
2009-08-22
.
- ^
Serra agarra a sua chance
- ^
http://revistaepoca.globo.com/Epoca/0,6993,EPT419866-2011,00.html
- ^
See
http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/jose-serra/4f8897b2a076935111000191.html
- ^
Jose Serra (30 July 2014).
Cinquenta anos esta noite: O golpe, a Ditadura e o exilio
. Editora Record.
ISBN
978-85-01-05494-4
.
- ^
"Cornell Masters' Thesis for Jose Serra?"
. Cornell University
. Retrieved
9 August
2010
.
- ^
"Virada Cultural Paulista: diversao para todo o Estado"
(in Portuguese). Government of the State of Sao Paulo. Archived from
the original
on April 29, 2010
. Retrieved
9 May
2010
.
- ^
Faria, Thiago (22 October 2008).
"
'Nao votem em mim se eu sair candidato,' diz Kassab sobre eleicoes 2010"
(in Portuguese).
Folha Online
. Retrieved
9 May
2010
.
- ^
In August 2012, at the start of the trial of Criminal Case 470, the lawyer Marcio Thomaz Bastos put
by Axmovatcoo on Tuesday, May 20, 2014 Published by "HTCAM"
- ^
(in Portuguese)
Serra sugeriu acordo em licitacao, diz executivo da Siemens
by "CartaCapital" (2013)
- ^
THE FRENCH CONNECTION: Did Alstom Bribe like Siemens?
by Jurgen Dahlkamp, Jorg Schmitt and Stefan Simons.
Spiegel Online International
, 7 de janeiro de 2008.
- ^
Now Is the Opposition's Turn to Get Involved in a Corruption Scandal in Brazil
Archived
2016-04-07 at the
Wayback Machine
by "Mercosur", published in "Brazzil" (2013)
- ^
Brazil's oil reserves for sale by Serra
by SLKRR (2010)
- ^
(in Portuguese)
Acoes da Petrobras caem mesmo com fim da participacao obrigatoria no pre-sal
by Wellton Maximo, published in "Agencia Brasil" (2016)
- ^
GIVING BRAZIL AWAY: DILMA COMPROMISES ON NATIONAL TREASURES TO EASE PRESSURE FROM OPPOSITION
by Pedro Marin in "Global Independent Analytics" (2016)
- ^
CIA directed Coup underway in Brazil
by "Macedonian International News Agency" (2016)
- ^
(in French)
Contre un putsch politico-mediatico-judiciaire au Bresil
by "emoire des luttes" (2016)
- ^
"Jose Serra launches bid to be Brazil's next president"
.
BBC News
. 2010-04-11
. Retrieved
2010-04-13
.
- ^
"Editorial: O mal a evitar"
.
O Estado de S. Paulo
(in Portuguese). 25 September 2010
. Retrieved
27 October
2010
.
- ^
"Brazil's testy election race"
.
FT.com
. 26 October 2010
. Retrieved
27 October
2010
.
If only to interrupt this relationship with power, Mr Serra is the better choice for Brazil.
- ^
"No Twitter, Serra anuncia que disputara candidatura a Prefeitura de SP"
.
Estadao.com
(in Portuguese). 27 February 2012
. Retrieved
1 March
2012
.
- ^
"Fernando Haddad wins Sao Paulo for Brazil Workers' Party"
.
BBC News
. 2012-10-29
. Retrieved
2013-03-03
.
- ^
"Apos diagnostico de Parkinson, Serra pede licenca e Jose Anibal assume mandato"
.
Senado Noticias
(in Brazilian Portuguese). 10 August 2021
. Retrieved
10 December
2023
.
- ^
Zanini, Fabio (7 March 2022).
"Jose Serra aceita convite do PSDB e sera candidato a deputado federal"
.
Folha de S. Paulo
(in Brazilian Portuguese)
. Retrieved
10 December
2023
.
- ^
"Eduardo Cunha, Jose Serra e Joice Hasselmann nao conseguem se eleger"
.
G1
(in Brazilian Portuguese). 3 October 2022
. Retrieved
10 December
2023
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Jose Serra
.
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|