Fernando Collor De Mello

Brazilian politician with an advantaged political background and a strong image comparable to President Kennedy, sportive and aggressive. He became President of Brazil 3/15/1990 on the ticket as a "clean government candidate." In May, 1992, his younger brother Pedro, a business rival, accused the president of using his office to rob the country. Brazilians were as shocked by this act of political fratricide as they were by the charge itself, but it was only the opening act in the First Family soap opera. In the following months, Pedro exposed his brother for misdeeds that included an attempted seduction of Pedro's wife, regular cocaine use, schemes to pocket millions through kickbacks and influence peddling, extortion, infidelity and corruption. After an investigation, Congress approved Collor's six-month suspension in an historic session 9/29/1992, Brasilia; his suspension began 10/02/1992 at 10:19 AM. The President refused to grant any interviews and withdrew from public view, a grim shadow of his former glory. When his impeachment trial began the first week of January, 1993, within minutes Collor de Mello announced his resignation. He is barred from any public office for eight years. Pedro Collor de Mello said in an interview that Fernando never cared for the money, all he wanted was power. Fernando mourned his brother Pedro, wondering what had happened to turn Pedro against him. Fernando recalled the loneliness of his childhood in boarding school, his introspection. When he entered politics in the late '70s, Fernando rose from mayor of Maceio to president of his country in just 11 years. Though he swore to his innocence, the attorney general's office handed down a five-count indictment linking Collor with Paulo Cesar Cavalcante Farias, a powerful Maceio entrepreneur and political insider. It charged that Farias paid the president $1.5 million from an illegal slush fund for personal and family expenses; that Farias paid $4.7 million to re-landscape the Collor home, Casa da Dinda; that Farias paid $29,000 for family dental work; and that Farias paid $85,000 for renovations of Collor's apartment in Maceio. Link to Wikipedia biography