Harry Amorim Costa (23 May 1927 – 19 August 1988) was the first

Governor of Mato Grosso do Sul The Governor of Mato Grosso do Sul ( pt, Governador do Mato Grosso do Sul) is the head of government of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. It is a public position chosen through the two-round majority electoral system. If a candidate re ...

, when the state was created during the government of President

Ernesto Geisel Ernesto Beckmann Geisel (, ; 3 August 1907 – 12 September 1996) was a Brazilian Army officer and politician, who was List of Presidents of Brazil, President of Brazil from 1974 to 1979, during the Brazilian military regime. Early life and fa ...

. In 1982, he was elected federal deputy for the PMDB, then the main opposition party to the government of

João Figueiredo João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo (; 15 January 1918 – 24 December 1999) was a Brazilian military leader and politician who was the 30th president of Brazil from 1979 to 1985, the last of the military regime that ruled the country follo ...

. He was unable to be re-elected in 1986, and was appointed Secretary of State for the Environment in 1987. He would die in 1988 in a car accident.

Biography

Born in the state of

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

, Costa was the son of José Zacarias Costa and Araci Amorim Costa. He received his education at the Escola de Engenharia (Engineering School) of the Universidade do Rio Grande do Sul, which was followed by courses in pavement and soil mechanics at the Road Research Institute in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

(1954) and the Institute for Technological Research in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

(1956). As early as 1950 he was working as an engineer for the independent authority Departamento Nacional de Obras de Saneamento (DNOS). In 1974 he became Director General of DNOS, having previously held several successful managerial positions in the field of public works and sanitation.

Political career

On March 28, 1978, the President of Brazil,

(1974–1979) appointed Harry Amorim Costa as the first governor of the newly created state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The nomination was approved by the federal Senate the following March 29. Appointed by a decree signed by President Geisel on March 31, he left the post of Director General of DNOS the following May and was sworn in for a four-year term on January 1, 1979. He was politically inexperienced, made administrative mistakes and, without his own base, faced opposition from the most powerful national leaders of the Aliança Renovadora Nacional (ARENA) in

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul () is one of the Midwestern states of Brazil. Neighboring Brazilian states are (from north clockwise) Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay, to the southwest, and ...

, who would have preferred to see a governor from

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighboring ...

. After five months and eleven days in office, he was released early on June 12, 1979 by President

. He joined the

Movimento Democrático Brasileiro 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) party, then the main opposition party against the government of

. In the 1982 elections in Brazil, he was elected to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

of the

National Congress ''National Congress'' is a term used in the names of various political parties and legislatures . Political parties *Ethiopia: Oromo National Congress *Guyana: People's National Congress (Guyana) *India: Indian National Congress *Iraq: Iraqi Nati ...

for the PMDB as a

federal deputy The Chamber of Deputies ( pt, Câmara dos Deputados) is a federal legislative body and the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. The chamber comprises 513 deputies, who are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year t ...

for

. Here he stayed for one legislature. His candidacy for re-election in 1986 was unsuccessful. On March 15, 1987, he was appointed fourth Secretary of State for the Environment (Secretário de Estado do Meio Ambiente de Mato Grosso do Sul) by Governor Marcelo Miranda. On August 19, 1988 he died in a car accident. He was married to Amélia Santana Costa and had six children.

Aftermath

In Campo Grande there is a monument in the Parque das Nações Indígenas, a bronze bust was made, a municipal school and a district are named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amorim Costa, Harry Governors of Mato Grosso do Sul 1927 births 1988 deaths 20th-century Brazilian engineers People from Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul alumni