José Serra
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| José Serra | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 1, 2007 |
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| Preceded by | Cláudio Lembo |
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| In office January 1, 2005 – March 31, 2006 |
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| Preceded by | Marta Suplicy |
| Succeeded by | Gilberto Kassab |
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| Born | March 19, 1942 São Paulo |
| Political party | PSDB |
José Serra (pron IPA: [ʒu'zɛ 'sɛʁɐ]) (born March 19, 1942 in São Paulo) is a Brazilian politician, former secretary of state, congressman, senator, minister of Planning and Minister of Health, mayor of São Paulo and current Governor of São Paulo state.
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[edit] Biography
Born in 1942 to Italian parents, Francesco Serra and Serafina Chirico, Serra interrupted his studies in engineering at age 22 and left the country in 1964 after the coup that established the military dictatorship era in Brazil. Serra came to the attention of the authorities having served as President of the National Student Union União Nacional dos Estudantes (UNE), while he was a 4th year engineering student at the University of São Paulo Escola Politecnica). Serra was an exile between the period of 1964-1978 in Chile, Argentina and the United States. In Chile Jose Serra did his masters in Economics and taught Economics at the University. There he also married Monica Allende (1967), then a top ballerina at the National Ballet of Chile, and had two children, Veronica (1969) and Luciano (1973). In the US Jose Serra did his PHD in Economics at Cornell University and later spent 2 years at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, NJ. On returning to Brazil after the political amnesty in 1978, Serra went to lecture economics at the University of Campinas, did research for Cebrap and wrote for newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. In 1982 he was appointed São Paulo's state Secretary for Economics and Planning under Franco Montoro's governorship, becoming at the time the most influent secretary of Montoro's Government. In 1986, 1990 and 1994 he was elected twice as a Congressman and later as a Senator (1994 to 2002) where he had over 6.5M votes.
Serra was elected mayor of São Paulo in 2004, representing the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB), which he helped found in 1988 alongside then former and future São Paulo state Governors Franco Montoro and Mario Covas and the future Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, out of a split arising in the Brazilian pro-democracy movement party (PMDB). The PSDB can be seen as a coalition of democrats, liberals and social democrats and enjoys a centrist outlook in comparison to its rival, the leftist Workers’ Party (PT) of current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Both parties enjoy large support in São Paulo state even though the state has been governed by the PSDB party since 1994. Serra came to political prominence under Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s presidency (1994-2002) when he was appointed as Minister of Planning and later as Minister of Health. Though seen by some as a technocrat, Serra is highly respected for his managerial and execution capabilities in Government, often fighting against private interests in favor of social benefit. Serra pioneered new policies on HIV/AIDS offering free treatment to all HIV positive patients in the country; such policies served as benchmark for what is considered the best run HIV program in the world, later adopted elsewhere in the developing world. Serra also allowed for the creation of the generic drug industry in Brazil which did not exist at the time and gave broad access to drugs to a poor population. During his stay at the health ministry Serra also created Anvisa, an independent health regulatory agency which was run by professionals with an independent mandate and not by politicians. Serra also banned all form of tobacco advertising in Brazil and mandated the packages to show pictures of the diseases that Cigarettes caused, a measure that was later copied elsewhere.
His first bid for the mayorship came in 1988 in an election won by PT's Luiza Erundina, and his second in 1996, when he resigned his position as Minister of Planning in order to participate in the election for mayor of São Paulo, which was won by Celso Pitta. Pitta was the designated successor of mayor Paulo Maluf, who headed the right-wing populist Progressive Party PP. Both Maluf and Pitta administrations were characterised by expansive public works programmes and later Maluf faced (and still faces) charges of corruption over contracts for the works awarded to his business associates in exchange for bribes. Pitta was replaced in 2000 by Marta Suplicy, then a congresswoman. Serra ran for President on behalf of the PSDB party in 2002 and was joined on the campaign trail by British Labour Cabinet member Peter Mandelson but was beaten by four-time candidate and PT founder Luiz Inácio da Silva (Lula) in the 2nd round. However, he came back in 2004 being elected mayor of the largest and most influential city in Brazil, São Paulo, beating President Lula's candidate Mayor Marta Suplicy, who tried running for re-election.
Serra was often mentioned as a possible PSDB candidate in the 2006 Presidential elections, and, according to various polls, was the only politician likely to beat Lula. However, on March 14, 2006, Serra decided to run for Governor of the State of Sao Paulo, and resigned his position as Mayor. On January 1st of 2007, he took office as the Governor of São Paulo State. This was the first time in São Paulo state's History that a Governor was elected in the first round of elections, what shows notable popular approval.
[edit] His role in Brazilian politics today
Serra was the presidential candidate of the incumbent PSDB party in 2002. In 2004, he was elected Mayor of São Paulo city in the second round with 55% of the votes. In 2006, he successfully ran for Governor of São Paulo state, elected in the first round with almost 60% of the votes.
José Serra is often considered a skilled administrator and a learned politician, respected among his colleagues and by his opponents. He is one of the leading figures in Brazil's politics and today appears as a front runner in recent polls for the 2010 Presidential race.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- São Paulo 2004 mayoral race pages
- http://citymayors.com/mayors/saopaulo_mayor.html Profile on CityMayors.com
| Preceded by Marta Suplicy |
Mayor of São Paulo 2005–2006 |
Succeeded by Gilberto Kassab |
| Preceded by Fernando Henrique Cardoso |
PSDB Party presidential candidate 2002 (lost) |
Succeeded by Geraldo Alckmin |
| Preceded by Cláudio Lembo |
Governor of São Paulo 2006— |
Succeeded by incumbent |
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