José Eduardo Cavalcanti de Mendonça, known as Duda Mendonça (10 August 1944 – 16 August 2021) was a Brazilian advertising strategist and businessman.

Career

He owned a publicity agency called Duda Propaganda, where he became known for his political campaigns, managing more than 55 national campaigns, including mayoral, senatorial, gubernatorial and presidential races with more than 20 years of experience. His work in the 2002 presidential campaign for

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...

was praised. Duda was referred to as "the man who elected Lula", because he helped establish Lula as a more mainstream and moderate politician (''Lulinha paz e amor''), compared to the more radical left-wing approach of Lula’s 3 previous presidential campaigns. He also worked on the campaigns of

Paulo Maluf Paulo Salim Maluf (; born 3 September 1931) is a Brazilian politician with a career spanning over four decades and many functions, including those of State Governor of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mayor of the São Paulo, City of São Paulo, N ...

Miguel Arraes Miguel Arraes de Alencar (15 December 1916 – 13 August 2005) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician. He was mayor of Recife, State Deputy, Federal Deputy and three times Governor of Pernambuco. Birth Arraes was born in Araripe in the state ...

, and

Ciro Gomes Ciro Ferreira Gomes (; born 6 November 1957), known mononymously as Ciro, is a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and academic. Ciro is currently affiliated with and vice-president of the Democratic Labour Party (PDT). Born in São Paulo but rais ...

in Brazil, and of the Portuguese Prime Minister

Pedro Passos Coelho Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (; born 24 July 1964) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese politician and university guest lecturer who was the List of prime ministers of Portugal, 117th prime minister of Portugal, in office from 2011 to 201 ...

. He worked for

Óscar Iván Zuluaga Óscar Iván Zuluaga Escobar (; born 3 February 1959) is a Colombian politician and economist who was the Democratic Center's nominee for President of Colombia in the 2014 election. He won the most votes in the first round of the election and ...

's campaign in the 2014 Colombian presidential elections. He was allegedly paid with money illegally paid by the multinational

Odebrecht Odebrecht S.A. (), officially known as Novonor, is a Brazilian conglomerate, headquartered in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, consisting of diversified businesses in the fields of engineering, construction, chemicals and petrochemicals. The company w ...

to Zuluaga's campaign. Between June and July 2014, Odebrecht wired US$1,610,000 to the accounts of a company that the publicist had in Panama.

Personal life

In October 2004, he was arrested at an illegal

cock fighting Cockfighting is a blood sport involving domesticated roosters as the combatants. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term " ...

arena in the

State of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo. The state, which has 8.2% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for 9.2% of ...

. Mendonça was born in

Salvador Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

and died on 16 August 2021 in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, at the age of 77, from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil The COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Brazil on 25 February 2020, when a man from São Paulo who had traveled to Italy tested positive for the virus. ...

. He was also suffering from a brain tumor.

References

1944 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Brazilian businesspeople Politicians from Salvador, Bahia 21st-century Brazilian businesspeople Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Rio de Janeiro (state) {{Brazil-business-bio-stub