Almir José de Oliveira Gabriel
COMM
The command in the Unix family of computer operating systems is a utility that is used to compare two files for common and distinct lines. is specified in the POSIX standard. It has been widely available on Unix-like operating systems since ...
(
Belém
Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará) often called Belém of Pará, is a Brazilian city, capital and largest city of the state of Pará in t ...
, August 18, 1932 - Belém, February 19, 2013) was a Brazilian doctor and politician affiliated to the
Brazilian Labor Party (PTB). He was governor of Pará for two terms, senator and mayor of the capital Belém.
Biography
Almir Gabriel is the son of Inácio Cúri Gabriel and Palmira de Oliveira Gabriel and was born in Belém do Pará on August 18, 1932. In 1956, he graduated in medicine from the
Federal University of Pará
The Federal University of Pará ( pt, Universidade Federal do Pará, UFPA) is one of the three public universities maintained by the Brazilian federal government in the state of Pará. It was ranked as the 15th largest Brazilian university in ...
(UFPA). During his undergraduate studies, he participated in the student movement as president of the academic directory and as vice-president of the União Acadêmica Paraense. After graduating, he became a doctor at
Petrobras and began a specialization course in thoracic surgery at the National Tuberculosis Service in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
, which he completed in 1958.
After returning to Belém, he headed the João de Barros Barreto University Hospital between 1962 and 1965, known as the Barros Barreto Sanatorium at the time. In 1966, he specialized in cardiovascular surgery at the Cardiology Institute of the São Paulo State Department of Public Health and Social Assistance. In 1971, he returned to the direction of the Barros Barreto Sanatorium, where he remained for another five years. In 1975, he took courses in national security and development at the
Associação dos Diplomados da Escola Superior de Guerra (ADESG) in Belém.
Almir Gabriel was married to Maria do Socorro França Gabriel, with whom he had four children, and died on February 19, 2013, in Belém at the age of 80 from multiple organ failure after suffering from pulmonary emphysema and heart insufficiency.
Political career
In 1977, Almir Gabriel began his political career after being appointed director of the National Division of Sanitary Pneumology at the
Ministry of Health, where he remained until 1979. In 1978, he also assumed the position of interim secretary of the National Secretariat for Special Health Programs. Later, he was hired by Governor
Alacid Nunes to occupy the office of Secretary of Health of Pará, between March 1979 and September 1983.
In 1983, he was appointed mayor of Belém by Governor
Jader Barbalho
Jader Fontenelle Barbalho (born 27 October 1944) is a Brazilian politician, businessman and landowner from the state of Pará. He is currently a member of the PMDB party and a Senator for Pará. He is the father of Hélder Barbalho, former mayo ...
. In the same year, he drafted the bill that created the Parliamentary Welfare Institute in Belém, which guaranteed a pension to councillors after eight years in office. He joined the
Brazilian Democratic Movement Party
The Brazilian Democratic Movement ( pt, Movimento Democrático Brasileiro, MDB) is a Brazilian political party. It is considered a " big tent party" and it is one of the parties with the greatest representation throughout the national territory, ...
(PMDB) the following year and left the mayor's post in January 1986.
In the November 1986 elections, Almir Gabriel was elected senator for the PMDB with 463,774 votes and became eligible to attend the
National Constituent Assembly (ANC), responsible for drafting
Brazil's 1988 Constitution. Sworn in on February 1, 1987, he was appointed by PMDB leader
Mário Covas as rapporteur for the Social Order Commission, which dealt with issues related to workers' rights, health, security, the environment and minorities. In the same year, he was a member of the Systematization Committee and an alternate member of the Subcommittee on Science and Technology and Communication, the Committee on the Family, Education, Culture and Sports, Science and Technology and Communication of the ANC.
During the debates in the Constituent Assembly, Almir Gabriel supported the rupture of diplomatic relations with countries that carried out policies of racial discrimination, the collective injunction, the 40-hour working week, the six-hour non-stop shift, proportional prior notice, the nationalization of the subsoil, the limitation of real interest rates to 12% per year, the prohibition of the blood trade, the creation of a fund to support
agrarian reform Agrarian reform can refer either, narrowly, to government-initiated or government-backed redistribution of agricultural land (see land reform) or, broadly, to an overall redirection of the agrarian system of the country, which often includes land ...
and the expropriation of areas considered productive for the purposes of agrarian reform.
He was also against the legalization of ''
jogo do bicho'', the five-year term of President
José Sarney
José Sarney de Araújo Costa (; born José Ribamar Ferreira de Araújo Costa; 24 April 1930) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and writer who served as 31st president of Brazil from 1985 to 1990. He briefly served as the 20th vice president of ...
,
presidentialism
A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separati ...
and the oil distribution monopoly. After the promulgation of the Constitution on October 5, 1988, he resumed his regular legislative work in the Senate, serving as general rapporteur of the Joint Budget Committee in the same year.
In 1989, he joined the
Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), an organization formed in June of the previous year as a result of the discontent of some parliamentarians with the outcome of the Constituent Assembly votes. In the direct elections for President of the Republic in November, he was the candidate for vice-president on Mário Covas' (PSDB) platform. With a total of 7,790,392 votes (11.51% of the valid votes), he came fourth, behind
Fernando Collor de Melo, of the
National Reconstruction Party
Act ( pt, Agir), formerly named National Reconstruction Party ( pt, Partido da Reconstrução Nacional; PRN) and Christian Labour Party ( pt, Partido Trabalhista Cristão; PTC), is a political party in Brazil.
The party was founded in 1985 as t ...
(PRN),
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party ...
, of the
Workers' Party (PT) - who went on to the second round in December, when Collor was victorious - and
Leonel Brizola
Leonel de Moura Brizola (22 January 1922 – 21 June 2004) was a Brazilian politician. Launched into politics by Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas in the 1930–1950s, Brizola was the only politician to serve as elected governor of two Brazi ...
, of the
Democratic Labor Party (PDT).
In 1990, Almir Gabriel ran for governor of the state of Pará on the Frente Popular Novo Pará Coalition, the result of an alliance between the PSDB, the
Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), the
Brazilian Communist Party
The Brazilian Communist Party ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista Brasileiro), originally the Communist Party of Brazil (), is a communist party in Brazil founded on 25 March 1922 which makes the disputed claim of being the oldest political party sti ...
(PCB), the
Communist Party of Brazil
The Communist Party of Brazil ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista do Brasil, PCdoB) is a political party in Brazil. The PCdoB officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist theory. It has national reach and deep penetration in the trade union and student ...
(PCdoB), the PDT and the PT. He came third with 230,242 votes (16.28% of the valid votes) and resumed his mandate as senator. In July 1994, Gabriel was awarded the
Order of Military Merit by President
Itamar Franco
Itamar Augusto Cautiero Franco (; 28 June 19302 July 2011) was a Brazilian politician who served as the 33rd president of Brazil from 29 December 1992 to 31 December 1994. Previously, he was the 21st vice president of Brazil from 1990 until the ...
with the rank of Special Commander.
In 1994, Almir Gabriel ran again for governor of Pará in a PSDB coalition with the
Liberal Front Party
The Democrats ( pt, Democratas, DEM) was a centre-right political party in Brazil that merged with the Social Liberal Party to found the Brazil Union in 2021. It was founded in 1985 under the name of Liberal Front Party (''Partido da Frente Libe ...
(PFL), PDT, Brazilian Labor Party (PTB),
Popular Socialist Party (PPS), PSB, PCB and PCdoB. In the first round, Almir Gabriel came second with 458,000 votes (37.21% of the valid votes) against 471,165 votes for
Jarbas Passarinho (PPR). In the second round, Almir Gabriel obtained the support of the PT, whose candidate,
Valdir Ganzer, had come third in the first round, and won 870,827 votes (62.73% of the valid votes), winning the election. He took office on January 1, 1995, and in his first month, he requested federal funds to complete major projects, such as the
Trans-Amazonian Highway
The Trans-Amazonian Highway (official designation BR-230, official name Rodovia Transamazônica), was introduced on September 27, 1972. It is 4,000 km long, making it the third longest highway in Brazil. It runs through the Amazon forest and ...
and the
Tucuruí Dam
The Tucuruí Dam (Tucuruí means "grasshopper's water", translated from Tupí language; pt, Tucuruí) is a concrete gravity dam on the Tocantins River located on the Tucuruí County in the State of Pará, Brazil. The main purpose of the dam is ...
.
In the
1998 elections, Almir Gabriel ran for re-election on the União pelo Pará Coalition formed by PSDB, PTB, PPS,
Brazilian Progressive Party
Progressistas (; PP) is a centre-right to right-wing political party in Brazil. Founded in 1995 as the Brazilian Progressive Party, it emerged from parties that were successors to ARENA, the ruling party of the Brazilian military dictatorship. A ...
(PP),
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
(PL),
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
(PV),
Social Christian Party (PSC),
National Mobilization Party (PMN),
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
(PSD) and
Avante (PTdoB). He received 773,185 votes (44.54% of the valid votes) and proceeded to the second round alongside runner-up Jader Barbalho. In the second round, Almir Gabriel received 981,409 votes (53.89% of the valid votes) and won the election for governor of Pará.
After four years out of public life, Almir Gabriel ran again for the government of Pará in the
2006 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 2006.
* Elections in 2006
* Electoral calendar 2006
* 2006 Acehnese regional election
* 2006 American Samoan legislative election
* 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election
* 2006 Costa Rican president ...
, with
Valéria Pires Franco as his vice-governor candidate. União pelo Pará, his coalition, included 15 parties: PSDB, PFL, PTB, PSC, PL, PV, PTdoB, PMN, PP,
Party of the Nation's Retirees (PAN),
Brazilian Labour Renewal Party (PRTB),
Humanist Party of Solidarity (PHS),
Christian Labor Party (PTC),
Progressive Republican Party (PRP) and
Reconstruction of the National Order Party (PRONA). The election was decided in the second round; Ana Júlia Carepa received 54.92% of the votes (1,673,648 votes) and defeated Gabrial, who received only 45.07% of the valid votes (1,373,474 votes).
In 2009 Almir Gabriel left the PSDB and in 2011 he joined the PTB, where he was mentioned as a candidate to run for mayor of Belém in the 2012 elections. However, he never ran.
Electoral efficiency
Controversies
Almir Gabriel became internationally known for the
Eldorado do Carajás Massacre, one of Brazil's main agrarian conflicts, which took place during his first term as governor of Pará in 1996. In the event, the Pará State Military Police were ordered to clear the road between
Marabá and
Parauapebas
Parauapebas is a municipality in the state of Pará in the Northern region of Brazil.
Geography
To the north is the municipality of Marabá; to the east, Curionópolis; to the south-east, Canaã dos Carajás; to the south, Água Azu ...
, obstructed by around 3,500 landless workers. The confrontation between the police and the protesters left 19 dead (many of them with signs of execution), and 80 injured (69 landless and 11 police officers). Although he was never held formally responsible for what happened, Almir Gabriel was identified by the
Landless Workers' Movement
Landless Workers' Movement ( pt, Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST) is a social movement in Brazil, inspired by Marxism, generally regarded as one of the largest in Latin America with an estimated informal membership of 1.5 millio ...
(MST) as the mastermind, since he allegedly ordered the road to be cleared by violent force.
See also
*
List of mayors of Belém
The following is a list of mayors of the city of Belém, Pará state, Brazil.
* , 1891-1894
* Antonio Joaquim da Silva Rosado, 1894-1897
* , 1897-1911
* Henrique Sabino da Luz, 1911-1912
* Virgílio Martins Lopes Mendonça, 1912-1913
* , 1913-1 ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabriel, Almir
1932 births
2013 deaths
People from Pará
People from Belém
Brazilian politicians
Recipients of the Order of Cultural Merit (Brazil)
Brazilian people of Lebanese descent
Candidates for Vice President of Brazil
Governors of Pará
National Renewal Alliance politicians
Democratic Social Party politicians
Brazilian Social Democracy Party politicians
Brazilian Labour Party (current) politicians
Mayors of Belém