Itamar Franco

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Itamar Augusto Cautiero Franco
37th President of Brazil
In office September 2, 1992 – January 1, 1995
Vice President(s)	None
Preceded by	Fernando Collor de Mello
Succeeded by	Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Born	June 28, 1930 At sea, aboard a ship
Political party	Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro)

Itamar Augusto Cautiero Franco, pron. IPA: [itɐ'maɾ aw'guʃtʊ kawti'eɾʊ 'fɾɐ̃kʊ], (born June 28, 1930) is a Brazilian politician who was President of Brazil from October 2, 1992 to January 1, 1995.

Itamar Franco was born at sea, aboard a ship traveling between Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. His family was from Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, where he grew up and became a civil engineer in 1955, graduating from the School of Engineering of Juiz de Fora. Franco was mayor of Juiz de Fora from 1967 to 1971 and again from 1973 to 1974. He resigned as mayor in 1974 and ran successfully for the Federal Senate as a representative of Minas Gerais. He soon became a senior figure in the MDB (Movimento Democrático Brasileiro - Brazilian Democratic Movement), the official opposition to the military regime that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985. Re-elected as a senator in 1982, he was defeated in an attempt to be elected governor of Minas Gerais in 1986 as a candidate of the Liberal Party (PL).

In 1989, Franco left PL and joined the small PRN (National Reconstruction Party) to be selected the running-mate of the presidential candidate Fernando Collor de Mello. Collor won and Franco became vice-president. In 1992, Collor was charged with corruption and was impeached by the Congress. Franco was acting president from September 1992 until Collor's impeachment in December of that year, at which point he formally took office as president.

Franco took power as Brazil was in the midst of a severe economic crisis, with inflation reaching 1,100% in 1992 and rocketing to almost 6,000% in 1993. Franco developed a reputation as a mercurial leader, but he selected Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who launched the "Plano Real" that stabilized the economy and ended inflation. Cardoso became the official candidate to succeed Franco and was elected President in late 1994. Franco, however, soon become a severe critic of Cardoso's government and disagreed with the privatization program. Thereafter, he served as the Brazilian Ambassador to Portugal in Lisbon and then as Brazilian Ambassador to the Organization of American States in Washington, DC until 1998. He was elected governor of Minas Gerais in 1998 and as soon as he took office, he enacted a moratorium on state debt payments, worsening the national economic crisis. Itamar Franco served until 2003 and since then has been the ambassador of Brazil in Italy, until leaving the position in 2005.

One curious fact is that President Franco's name, Itamar, is an alegory to his curious birth at sea near the Bahia coast. The ship he was born in was called the Ita, and he was born at sea (mar, in Portuguese) : a contraction of Ita and mar, Itamar.

Preceded by: Adhemar Rezende de Andrade	Mayor of Juiz de Fora 1967 – 1971	Succeeded by: Agostinho Pestana
Preceded by: Agostinho Pestana	Mayor of Juiz de Fora 1973 – 1974	Succeeded by: Saulo Moreira
Preceded by: José Sarney	Vice-President of Brazil March 15, 1990 – September 2, 1992	Succeeded by: Marco Maciel
Preceded by: Fernando Collor de Mello	President of Brazil September 2, 1992 – January 1, 1995	Succeeded by: Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Preceded by: Eduardo Brandão de Azeredo	Governor of Minas Gerais 1999 – 2003	Succeeded by: Aécio Neves