Cesar Maia
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Cesar Epitácio Maia (born July 18, 1945) is the current mayor of Rio de Janeiro and will possibly be a candidate for the presidency of Brazil in 2006. A native of Rio born in 1945, like many other politically active members of his generation Maia was forced to leave Brazil in exile during the 1960s on account of his membership of the Brazilian Communist Party. Exiled in Chile, he obtained a degree in economics, but the 1973 coup in that country saw him return to his native land. After becoming Professor of Macroeconomics at the Fluminense Federal University in the neighbouring city of Niterói, Maia became active in the Democratic Labour Party (PDT), founded by left populist the late Leonel Brizola. Maia supported Brizola’s campaign to become Governor of Rio de Janeiro state in 1983, as Brazil was emerging from the military-led regime towards full democracy, and was rewarded with the position of Treasury Secretary for the state. In 1986 he was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies and re-elected in 1990. Having achieved political proeminence in the late 1980's, Maia affiliated with the Partido do Movimento Democrata Brasileiro (PMDB) in 1991, and was elected mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro for the first time in 1992, surprisingly defeating his former party's candidate.
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Mayoral career
Cesar Maia is now on his third mayoral term for the city of Rio de Janeiro. His first mandate was focused on new directions on public administration and urban intervention, with great social impact. Among other programs like the construction of the mayor urban highway in Latin America, called Linha Amarela, he developed the most important project of urbanization to the favelas, Favela-Bairro, a recognized program by UNESCO. In the end of this first commission, he openly supported the candidacy of Luiz Paulo Conde, announcing him as his successor and he was then elected in 1996. Two years later, Maia ran for governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro and faced his first political defeat. He runned for mayor again, against Conde and was elected for his second term in 2000.In the office, his primary guidelines were to continue the plans and works in his first mandate. However, this time he seemed more focused on increasing Rio's international exposure, showcasing the city as more of a multi-cultural, cosmopolitan center. His first priority was education. More than sixty new schools were built and another two hundred were repaired. Applied for Rio de Janeiro to host the Olympics twice (once in 1996 for the 2004 games, and again in 2004, for 2012), but the city was disqualified both times. However, he later managed Rio to host the 2007 Pan American Games. Cesar Maia has developed major social programs for the city, some of the most important as follows:
- The Rio Cidade ("Rio city") and Favela-Bairro ("from slum to neighborhood") projects, consisting basically in the renovation of urban landscape along with major structural improvements, especially in the poorest neighborhoods.
- The Agentes da Liberdade ("agents of freedom") program, that aims to rehabilitate and reintroduce convicted criminals into society.
- Remédio em Casa, a pioneer welfare program through which patients can receive their prescription medicines at home by mail, which is not only comfortable for them but also reduces waiting lines in public hospitals.
Cesar Maia in popular culture
Streighering the cultural vocation of the city, the Mayor Cesar Maia introduced a policy of descentralization the cultural urban equipment, one of the bases for the democratization of unrestricted access to culture for the population. With ten theatres and eight Lonas Culturais spreaded by various neighborhood of the city , he created the Municipal Network of Theatres. It's the largest public network of theatres in Latin America. Also, integrating the city in the international cultural scenario, the construction of the Cidade da Música, the largest synphonic hall in Latin America, and the Cidade do Samba are good examples of the policy developed in the city.
See also
List of Mayors of Rio de Janeiro