Fernando Collor de Mello

Fernando Collor de Mello, 2007

Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello [ feʁˈnɐ̃du ɐˈfõsu ˈkɔloʁ dʒi ˈmɛlu ] (born August 12, 1949 in Rio de Janeiro ) is a Brazilian politician, Senator for Alagoas since 2007. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the Federative Republic of Brazil .

Collor de Mello began his political career when he was elected 57th Prefect (Mayor) of the city of Maceió from January 1, 1979 to January 1, 1983 . From February 1, 1983 to February 1, 1987 he represented Alagoas as a federal representative in the Chamber of Deputies of the National Congress . He had successfully applied for the post of governor in the elections in Brazil in 1986 and was the 55th governor of Alagoas from March 15, 1987 to May 14, 1989.

Presidency

In November 1989, Collor de Mello won the runoff election for the presidency with 35 to 31 million votes against the unionist and later president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva . On March 15, he took over the office of the outgoing President José Sarney and was sworn in in the capital Brasília as the 32nd President of the Federal Republic of Brazil.

This made Collor de Mello Brazil's first democratically elected president in 29 years. He spent the first months of his tenure fighting inflation , which at times reached 25 percent a month. On the day of his inauguration, he launched the “Collor Plan” with his Finance Minister Zélia Cardoso de Mello. He tried to fight hyperinflation with radical means: he confiscated everything that people had saved under the motto “No money, no inflation”, a concept that did not work, however.

Corruption allegations and impeachment proceedings

In 1992, Collor de Mello was accused of corruption by his brother Pedro. This led to investigations by Congress and the press. Growing evidence of bribery and embezzlement of state funds led to mass demonstrations and riots in the major cities of Brazil.

On September 29, 1992, Congress voted 441 to 38 votes for the removal of President Collor de Mello. According to the Brazilian constitution, his powers were suspended for a period of 180 days and his vice-president Itamar Franco took over as the incumbent head of state.

Resignation and judgment

On December 29, 1992, Collor resigned from the office of President. According to the constitution, President Itamar Franco , who has been in office since October 2, was sworn in before the Congress on the same day .

In December 1994, Collor was acquitted of all corruption charges by the Supreme Court , but he was banned from public office for eight years.

Life After the Presidency

He ran for mayor of the city of São Paulo , but to no avail, as he is still associated with corruption by the electorate. He also ran for governorship in his home state of Alagoas in 2002 , but lost the election again. In 2006 Fernando Collor prevailed in the elections to the Brazilian Senate in his home state of Alagoas with 44 percent of the vote against ex-Governor Ronaldo Lessa. In the elections for governor of the state of Alagoas on October 3, 2010, he only achieved the third highest percentage of votes and thus not the runoff.

Fernando Collor de Mello was added to the list of suspects in March 2015 as part of Operation Lava Jato . On July 14, 2015, the Brazilian federal police confiscated several luxury Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini cars from their Casa da Dinda residence in Brasília.

literature

• Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 11/1998 from March 2, 1998, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

Commons : Fernando Collor  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Fernando Collor de Mello in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Profile on the website of the Senate of Brazil , 25.senado.leg.br, accessed on May 13, 2016 (Portuguese)
2. ↑ Biography on Encyclopædia Britannica , britannica.com, accessed on May 13, 2016 (English)
3. ↑ Escândalos - Caso Collor ( Skandala - Der Fall Collor ) ( Memento from November 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), veja.com.br, accessed on November 21, 2018 (Brazilian Portuguese)
4. ^ War of Colors , spiegel.de, from August 24, 1992
5. ↑ Leticia Casado: PF apreende Porsche, Lamborghini e Ferrari de Collor . In: Valor Econômico . July 14, 2015 (Brazilian Portuguese, com.br [accessed November 21, 2018]).
6. ^ Corruption scandal in Brazil: luxury cars confiscated from ex-president . latina-press.com, accessed November 21, 2018.

predecessor	Office	successor
José Sarney	President of Brazil 1990–1992	Itamar Franco