20 Facts About Jarbas Passarinho

Jarbas Goncalves Passarinho was a Brazilian military officer and politician.

Jarbas Passarinho served as head of several government ministries during both the Brazilian military government and the transition to democracy.

Jarbas Passarinho was a member of the Federal Senate, representing Para for two tenures during military rule and the return to democracy, including a period as President of the Federal Senate from 1981 to 1983.

Jarbas Passarinho was born on 11 January 1920, in Xapuri, Acre, to Inacio de Loiola Passarinho, a small business owner, and Julia Goncalves Passarinho.

Jarbas Passarinho attended Escola Preparatoria de Cadetes de Porto Alegre and Escola Militar do Realango in Rio de Janeiro to prepare for a career in the Brazilian Army.

Jarbas Passarinho was an army officer when the Brazilian Armed Forces seized power in 1964 and established the Brazilian military government, a military dictatorship which ruled the country from 1964 to 1985.

Jarbas Passarinho began his political career in Para in 1964, when President Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco, the country's first leader following the 1964 Brazilian coup d'etat, appointed Passarinho as the Governor of Para.

Jarbas Passarinho served as governor from 1964 to 1966, when he left the governor's office to take a seat in the Federal Senate.

Jarbas Passarinho would be succeeded in 1966 by his protege, Major Alacid Nunes.

Jarbas Passarinho joined the National Renewal Alliance, the party of the military government, after other political parties were disbanded in October 1965.

Jarbas Passarinho stepped down as Governor of Para in 1966 and was elected to the Federal Senate, representing Para, as a member of the National Renewal Alliance, the official political party of the military government.

In 1967, the same year that Jarbas Passarinho retired from the Brazilian Army with the rank of colonel, President Artur da Costa e Silva appointed him as Minister of Labor, which he headed from 1967 to 1969.

Costa e Silva's successor, President Emilio Garrastazu Medici, another military leader, who took office on 30 October 1969, asked Jarbas Passarinho to become his Minister of Education soon after taking office.

Jarbas Passarinho headed the Ministry of Education November 1969 until March 1974.

Jarbas Passarinho remained in his seat as a member of the Federal Senate after leaving the Ministry of Education in 1974.

Jarbas Passarinho was elected President of the Federal Senate from 1981 to 1983.

In November 1986, following the end of military rule, Jarbas Passarinho was elected to the interim Brazilian Constituent Assembly from Para as a member of the Democratic Social Party.

In October 1990, after Jarbas Passarinho had returned to the Senate, President Fernando Collor de Mello to his Cabinet as Minister of Justice, where he served from October 1990 until April 1992.

Jarbas Passarinho remained one of Collor de Mello's allies in the National Senate, but failed to stop the President's impeachment later in 1992.

Jarbas Passarinho joined the new Partido Progressista Brasileiro in 1995 following the merger of the PPR and the PP political parties.