Alvaro Fernandes Dias (born December 7, 1944) is a Brazilian politician. He had represented Paraná in the Federal Senate from 1999 to 2023. Previously, he was the governor of Paraná. He is a member of Podemos.[1]

Alvaro Dias
Senator for Paraná
In office
February 1, 1999 – February 1, 2023
Preceded byJosé Eduardo de Andrade Vieira
Succeeded bySergio Moro
In office
February 1, 1983 – March 14, 1987
Preceded byLeite Chaves
Succeeded byLeite Chaves
Governor of Paraná
In office
March 15, 1987 – March 15, 1991
Vice GovernorAry Queiroz
Preceded byJoão Elísio Ferraz de Campos
Succeeded byRoberto Requião
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
February 1, 1975 – February 1, 1983
ConstituencyParaná
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Paraná
In office
February 1, 1971 – February 1, 1975
ConstituencyAt-large
Member of the Municipal Chamber of Londrina
In office
February 1, 1969 – February 1, 1971
ConstituencyAt-large
Personal details
Born (1944-12-07) December 7, 1944 (age 80)
Quatá, São Paulo, Brazil
Political partyPODE (2017–present)
Other political
affiliations
  • MDB (1968–1979)
  • PMDB (1979–1989)
  • PST (1989–1993)
  • PP (1993–1994)
  • PDT (2001–2003)
  • PSDB (1994-2001; 2003–2016)
  • PV (2016–2017)
SpouseDébora Amaral de Almeida
Alma materState University of Londrina

Early life and career

edit

Alvaro Dias was born in Quatá, in the countryside of São Paulo state, to farmer Silvino Fernandes Dias and housewife Helena Fregadolli. He was raised in the city of Maringá, Paraná, and attended the State University of Londrina, where he graduated with a degree in history in 1967.[2][3]

Dias began his political career as an alderman for Londrina in 1968, being elected as a member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB). In the 1970 elections, he was elected to serve as state deputy of Paraná. In 1974, Dias was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, representing Paraná, and was re-elected in 1978.[4]

In 1982 Dias was elected to the Federal Senate. In 1986, he defeated former federal deputy Alencar Furtado to serve as Governor of Paraná. In his second year as governor, Dias attained a 90% approval rate.[5] In 1989 he ran for the PMDB presidential primary but lost to São Paulo congressman Ulysses Guimarães. Dias subsequently left PMDB and joined the Social Labour Party (PST).

In 1994 Dias joined the Progressive Party (PP) and ran for Paraná governor for a second time, losing to Jaime Lerner. That same year, he left PP and joined the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB).[6]

2018 presidential campaign

edit

On 4 August 2018, Alvaro Dias officially launched his candidacy for President of Brazil in the 2018 elections as a member of Podemos. His campaign received the support of the Social Christian Party (PSC) and the Progressive Republican Party (PRP). Economist Paulo Rabello de Castro (PSC) joined Dias's ticket as his running mate.[7] Later on, the Christian Labour Party (PTC), the party of former president Fernando Collor, gave its support to Dias's candidacy.[8]

Teacher's Massacre

edit

On August 30, 1988, the Military Police of the State of Paraná held a confrontation with teachers who were demonstrating for their rights in an act carried out in the state capital. The teachers' strike, which motivated the act, at that time, had already lasted fifteen days. It is not known for sure what sparked the confrontation, but the date was marked in the history of Paraná due to the brutal action of the police, who used stun bombs, horses and dogs against the demonstrators.[9] As reported by Gazeta do Povo reporter Jônatas Dias Lima, "The repression left ten people injured and resulted in the arrest of five protesters."[10] The reporter also tells us that the Paraná Teachers Association devoted the following years to recording the event, [10] making a large part of it available on youtube, as is the case of the video "30 Anos do 30 de Agosto de 1988" [11] which features footage of the police repression.

The former governor, however, denies that there was any truculence and insists that the action was used for political ends. Jônatas recalls that back in 1988 the state government published a full-page advertisement highlighting that there were several points that could be distorted by personal or partisan interests.[10] In 2018, during an interview with Jovem Pan, when asked about the matter by Marco Antonio Villa, who recalled that the date is remembered annually by the Teachers’ Association, the former governor called the episode “fake news”, “lie” and “factoid”. He also argued that the date is only historical for the APP-Sindicado, which, according to him, would be a Worker's Party device.[12]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Senador Álvaro Dias". Federal Senate. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  2. ^ "Conheça a biografia do senador tucano Álvaro Dias - 25/06/2010 - Poder".
  3. ^ "Biografia do(a) Deputado(a) Federal ALVARO DIAS".
  4. ^ "Álvaro Fernandes Dias".
  5. ^ Newspaper clipping apublica.org May 2018
  6. ^ "Senador Alvaro Dias se desfilia do PSDB do Paraná para ingressar no PV". 8 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Alvaro Dias oficializa candidatura neste sábado e ainda busca ampliar apoio". 4 August 2018.
  8. ^ "PTC anuncia apoio a Alvaro Dias à Presidência nas eleições 2018 - Política".
  9. ^ PR, Bibiana DionísioDo G1 (2016-08-30). "Professores protestam e relembram 30 de agosto de 1988 em Curitiba". Paraná (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-04-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ a b c "1988, o ano que nunca terminou". 29 August 2013. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  11. ^ 30 Anos do 30 de Agosto de 1988, retrieved 2022-04-06
  12. ^ Eleições 2018 - Jovem Pan sabatina Álvaro Dias, retrieved 2022-04-06
Political offices
Preceded by 49th Governor of Paraná
1987–1991
Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by
Thereza Ruiz
PODE nominee for President of Brazil
2018
Most recent