José Aldo Rebelo Figueiredo (born in Viçosa on 23 February 1956) is a Brazilian politician, member of the Communist Party of Brazil and a federal deputy elected by the state of São Paulo. He was President of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil from 2005 to 2007.
With President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Venezuela and Vice President José Alencar undergoing medical tests in the United States, Rebelo became the first communist to assume the duties of acting president of Brazil on November 12, 2006. His brief period in office lapsed the next day upon Lula's return.[1]
He is the main author of a project to change Brazil's controversial Forest Code introduced in the 1960s. As is, the code that makes mandatory that rural land owners keep 80% of their own land as sanctuaries could lead to a situation where millions of farmers would be penalized with criminal charges and loss of land. Environmentalist NGOs claim that, if passed, the new Forest Code will allow the Amazon Forest to be further cut down, given that land owners would be free to use their land as they see fit.[2]
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