João Pessoa Cavalcânti de Albuquerque

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

João Pessoa (front right) with President Getúlio Vargas (1930)

João Pessoa Cavalcânti de Albuquerque (born  January 24, 1878 in Umbuzeiro , Paraíba , †  July 26, 1930 in Recife ) was a Brazilian politician . He was governor of the state of Paraíba between 1928 and 1930. The future President Getúlio Vargas nominated him in the presidential election in 1930 as a candidate for the office of vice president. However, on July 26, 1930, Pessoa was assassinated by his political rival João Duarte Dantas. Dantas' apartment had previously been searched by regional police forces; shortly afterwards details of an intimate correspondence with the poet Anaíde Beiriz leaked to the public. Pessoa's assassination is considered to be one of the key events leading up to the 1930 revolution , during which Vargas finally came to power.

In 1930 the capital Paraíbas was renamed João Pessoa after a referendum . An indirect reference to Pessoa can also be found in the state flag of Paraíbas: The word "Nego" (literally: I reject ) is intended to underline the independence of the state and refers to a telegram that Joao Pessoa sent in July 1929 to the then President Washington Luís sent. In it he refused to support the candidate Júlio Prestes proposed by Luís in the next presidential election . Prestes was elected in March 1930, but the election was contested by some parties and states - including Paraíba - and ultimately became meaningless by the coup of October 3, 1930.

Pessoa's political significance is controversial: His supporters see him as a committed fighter against the power of the oligarchies, although he himself came from a family that belonged to the upper class. He carried out political reforms that led to a reorganization of the state finances of Paraíba, but primarily burdened the inland traders.