Fernando Collor de Mello
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Template:Brazilian President Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (born August 12, 1949) was president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992. He is the husband of Rosane Collor from 1984 to the present.
Collor was the scion of a powerful political family, led by his father Arnon de Mello, a journalist and former governor of Alagoas. Backed by his good looks and his father's TV and print media interests, he became successively mayor of Alagoas' capital Maceió, a federal deputy, and eventually governor of the state of Alagoas in 1987.
In 1989 he defeated Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a very close presidential race. The first democratically elected president of Brazil in 29 years, Collor spent the early years of his government battling inflation, which at times reached rates of 25% per month.
Shortly after taking office, Collor launched the "Collor Plan," which attempted to reduce the money supply by forcibly converting large portions of consumer bank accounts into unspendable government bonds. He also proposed freezes in wages and prices, as well as major cuts in government spending. The measures were received unenthusiastically by the people, though many felt that radical measures were necessary to reduce the constant inflation. Within a few months, however, inflation resumed, eventually reaching rates of 25% per month.
This strategy, many economists say, was in fact a cover up for lowering the high public debt bill. The "confiscated" money had negative real interest rates while in the government's hands and this negative difference was indirectly used to significantly lower the Brazilian sovereign debt. Those economists state that lowering the high inflation was never the real first objective of the plan.
A feature of Collor's administration was the privatization of a number of government-owned enterprises such as Acesita.
In 1992, Collor was accused by his brother Pedro of corruption, leading to investigations by both Congress and the press. Many accusations focused on the role of Collor's campaign manager, Paulo Cesar Farias, who accumulated substantial wealth as Collor's political star rose. The crescendo of evidence of bribery and misappropriation of state funds led to popular demonstrations and civil disorder across the main cities of Brazil. In October, the congress voted to suspend him. He resigned from office on December 29, 1992 shortly before being officially impeached by Congress.
He was succeeded by his vice president, Itamar Franco. In December 1994, Collor was acquitted of the corruption charges by the Brazilian supreme court, though his right to run for political office was suspended for 8 years.
He tried to run for mayor in São Paulo, but he was not successful. Most of the population still identifies him with corruption. In 2002, he ran for governor in his home state, Alagoas, but he lost again. His political future was uncertain by 2005.
| Preceded by: José Sarney | President of Brazil | Succeeded by: Itamar Franco |
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