Sergio Cabral Filho
Born on January 27th, 1963, Sérgio de Oliveira Cabral Santos Filho is the current Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
As a journalist, he began his political career in the 1980’s when he first integrated the Youth of the PMDB (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party). In 1984, he was the Coordinator of the Pedro Ernesto Committee, supporting Tancredo Neves, and in the following year became Director of Rio de Janeiro’s Tourism Company Operations. In 1990, he was elected State Representative for Rio de Janeiro, being reelected in 1994 and 1998. He presided, for eight years, the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro. In 2002, was elected Senator, working hard to achieve the approval of the Elderly Statute.
In 2006, he was elected, for the first time, Governor of Rio de Janeiro (RJ), starting an intense transformation process in the state. In 2009, he was considered one of the 100 most influent Brazilians by the “Revista Época”. In the following year, he was reelected Governor of Rio de Janeiro with more than 66% of the valid votes.
The current government placed Rio de Janeiro in an economic spotlight in the national scenario, being the first Brazilian state to receive the investment grade given by the risk agency Standard and Poor’s and lately also by the agency Fitch. The excellent economic momentum lived by RJ is imputed, among other factors, by the public security policy that has been significantly minimizing the criminality index through the pacification of the communities, where the state power could not be reached.
In addition, the constant search for the equality of the opportunities and social integration is one of the most important features of the current state management. Economic and Social incentive programs, such as “Rio Sem Miséria” (Rio Without Poverty), which acts through income transfer, and the promotion of entrepreneurship, with the provision of microcredit by AgeRio, are noteworthy examples.
Source: University Programs and Events Planning Resources, May 2014