Severino Cavalcanti

Brazilian politician, also known as "Seu Zito," he was a member of the Progressive Party although he changed parties eight times in his career. The scion of a family of smallholder farmers, he became the mayor of João Alfredo (1964-1966, 2009-2013), a member of the Pernambuco State Assembly (1967-1995) and a federal congressman (1995-2005). In 2005, he ran for the presidency of Brazilian chamber of deputies, thinking that the official candidate of the Lula government, Luís Eduardo Greenhalgh, would win. However, because of the internal crisis of the government at the time, Cavalcanti was able to take the post. On 21 September 2005, he resigned from his position as federal deputy, and his position as President of the House was taken over provisionally by the Vice-President of the House José Thomaz Nonô. He was known for his conservative positions on several issues, such that many of his opponents considered him "anachronistic." He opposed the practice of abortion and same sex civil unions. He presented himself on several occasions as the representative of Catholics in Congress. He died in the early hours of 15 July 2020 in Recife at age 89. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less