São Paulo – Former Brazilian vice president and businessman José Alencar died this Tuesday (29th) in the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital, in São Paulo. The death of the politician, who would turn 80 in October, has been confirmed by the hospital’s press office.
Alencar was rushed to the hospital early on Monday afternoon (28th) with intestinal obstruction. He had been battling intestinal cancer for over a decade.
The technical director of the Syrian Lebanese Hospital, Antônio Carlos Onofre de Lira, and its clinical director, Paulo Ayrosa Galvão, signed a statement after 03:00 pm, in which they inform that Alencar died at 02:41 pm this Tuesday "as a result of cancer and multiple organ failure."
Alencar was born in the village of Itamuri, in the municipality of Muriaé, in the Zona da Mata region of the state of Minas Gerais, on October 17th, 1931. He was the 11th son out of 15 children of merchant Antônio Gomes da Silva and housewife Dolores Peres Gomes da Silva.
In 2002, Alencar was elected vice president alongside president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The Minas Gerais-based businessman’s contribution was crucial for Lula to gain the trust of businessmen during his campaign. He was re-elected in 2006.
In the government, Alencar occupied the vice-presidency and the position of minister of Defence, from 2004 to March 2006, when he took a leave from the ministry in order to run for the presidential elections again.
Affiliated with the Brazilian Republican Party (PRB, in the Portuguese acronym), Alencar make various criticisms of the economic policy adopted by the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) and became a symbol of those who called for the lowering of the benchmark interest rate (Selic).
Alencar left his parents’ house at 14 years old to become a clerk at fabric store A Sedutora, in Muriaé. Two years later, he moved to Caratinga (Minas Gerais), where he continued working as a salesperson.
When he turned 18, Alencar was emancipated by his father, borrowed money from his older brother, Geraldo Gomes da Silva, and opened his own business. On March 31st, 1950, he established his first company, A Queimadeira, where he used to sell fabric, shoes, hats and umbrellas. To save money, he lived at the store.
With support from his brothers, the former vice president maintained the store until 1953, when he decided to sell it and change his line of work. He became a trade representative for a fabric trader in Rio de Janeiro, worked in the grain sector, and was a partner at a pasta factory. In 1959, Alencar’s older brother died in Ubá, also in the state of Minas, and he took charge of his business.
In 1967, in partnership with cotton processing industry businessman and congressman Luiz de Paula Ferreira, Alencar established fabric company Companhia de Tecidos Norte de Minas, aka Coteminas, in Montes Claros, which would become one of the leading textile groups in Brazil. In 1975, he inaugurated the country’s most cutting-edge yarn and textile factory. Coteminas has plants to manufacture yarn, fabric, clothing, T-shirts, socks, towels, robes and bed sheets for the domestic market. The group also owns five units in the United States, one in Argentina and one in Mexico.
The former vice president worked at organizations representing the business sector. He chaired the Trade Association of Ubá and the Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais (Fiemg), and was the vice president of the National Confederation of Industries (CNI). In politics, in 1994, he ran for governor of the state of Minas and, in 1998, he was elected senator for the PMDB party, with nearly 3 million votes.
In the Senate, he chaired the Permanent Commission for Infrastructure Service, was a member of the Permanent Commission for Economic Affairs, and of the Permanent Commission for Social Affairs.
Since 1997, the vice president had been battling cancer. He underwent treatment in Brazil and the United States. He underwent a total of 17 surgeries. Alencar was married to Mariza Campos Gomes da Silva, with whom he had a son and two daughters: Josué Christiano, Maria da Graça and Patrícia.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
