César Maia
| Cesar Maia | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 51st Mayor of Rio de Janeiro | |
|
In office January 1, 2001 – December 31, 2008 |
|
| Preceded by | Luiz Paulo Conde |
| Succeeded by | Eduardo Paes |
| 49th Mayor of Rio de Janeiro | |
|
In office January 1, 1993 – January 1, 1997 |
|
| Preceded by | Marcello Alencar |
| Succeeded by | Luiz Paulo Conde |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
|
In office February 1, 1987 – December 31, 1992 |
|
| Constituency | Rio de Janeiro |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
June 18, 1945 Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Political party |
PCB (1974–1981) PDT (1981–1991) PMDB (1991–1996) PFL (1996–1999) PTB (1999–2004) PFL (2004–2007) DEM (2007–present) |
| Profession | Economist, politician |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Cesar Epitácio Maia (born June 18, 1945) is a Brazilian politician, notable for having been elected three times for mayor of Rio de Janeiro.
A native of Rio, born in 1945, Maia was forced to leave Brazil in exile during the 1960s on account of his affiliation with the Brazilian Communist Party. Exiled in Chile, he obtained a degree in economics, but the 1973 coup in the country saw him return to his native land. After becoming Professor of Macroeconomics at the Fluminense Federal University in the neighbouring city of Niterói, Maia became active in the Democratic Labour Party (PDT), founded by deceased left populist Leonel Brizola. Maia supported Brizola’s campaign to become Governor of Rio de Janeiro state in 1983, as Brazil was emerging from the military-led regime towards full democracy, and was subsequently appointed Treasury Secretary for the state.
A trusted personal adviser to Brizola, who was instrumental in uncovering and denouncing the allegedly electoral fraud that threatened Brizola's gubernatorial election in 1982, the so-called Proconsult scheme, Maia was to be elected to the national Chamber of Deputies in 1986, and saw re-election in 1990. Meanwhile, having achieved personal political proeminence in the late 1980s, Maia broke with Brizola and the PDT, affiliating with the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB) in 1991, being elected mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro for the first time in 1992, defeating the Workers' Party candidate, Afro-Brazilian Benedita da Silva in a run-off election, in a campaign that was regarded by some as being driven by racist ideology. Maia subsequently left the PMDB and joined the Liberal Front Party (PFL).
Maia began his first term as mayor in the wake of an episode that mirrored the strained relationship between the social classes in Rio de Janeiro, the so-called arrastão (looting-rampage, or "dragnet") on October the 18th, which saw rival groups of youths from different shantytowns(galeras) and associated with various funk bands (funkeiros) sorting out their differences and going on to a looting-spree at Ipanema beach. Maia took the mantle of a "law and order" candidate, and after his inauguration tried a "no-nonsense" attitude, focused on new directions on public administration and urban intervention. He frequently courted media attention through the use of so-called factoids; small antics that went from the eccentric to the ridiculous, an example being his proposal of a special monetary unit that would be legal tender in Rio de Janeiro only. Given the bizarre character of some of these antics, some say that Maia from the start "wanted to build an image purposely intended to appear as surprisingly as well as strange".
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