Eduardo Suplicy

Biography

Son of coffee grower Paulo Cochrane Suplicy and Filomena Matarazzo, he is an heir of the well-known coffee company Suplicy Cafés, besides belonging to the traditional Italian Brazilian Matarazzo family. His mother is a granddaughter of Francesco Matarazzo, known for having created the largest industrial complex in Latin America in the early 20th century.

Suplicy has a degree in business management from the Fundação Getúlio Vargas' School of Business Administration, where he is currently a professor, and a degree in economics from Michigan State University.

On 1964, Suplicy married Marta Teresa Smith de Vasconcelos, better known as Marta Suplicy, and had three sons with her: João, André, and Eduardo. They were one of the most famous couples of Brazilian politics until their divorce in 2001. Currently, Eduardo has a new partner, journalist Monica Dallari.

In 1966, he became professor of the Economics Department of the School of Business Administration of the Fundação Getúlio Vargas in São Paulo, where he still works until today. In 1968, he obtained his master's degree at the Michigan State University. In 1973, Suplicy concluded his PhD at Michigan State University with the thesis "The Effects of Mini devaluation in the Brazilian Economy", published in 1975 by the Fundação Getúlio Vargas. He later did a post-doctorate at Stanford University.

Eduardo Suplicy is the author of "The Effect of Mini devaluations in the Brazilian Economy" (Published by Fundação Getúlio Vargas - 1975); "International and Brazilian Economic Policies" (Published by Vozes ed. - 1977); "Commitment" (Published by Editora Brasiliense - 1978); "Investigating the Coroa-Brastel Case" (edited by the House of Representatives - 1985); "From the Distribution of Income to the Rights of Citizenship" (published by Editora Brasiliense - 1988) and "The Program of Guaranteed Minimum Income" (edited by the Federal Senate - 1992).

On the second of February 2016, he is made doctor honoris causa from the Université Catholique de Louvain.

Political career

Suplicy managed to be first elected senator in the history of the Brazilian Labour Party (PT). His political performance is the result of a public life constructed throughout almost 20 years, when he was elected for his first mandate as State Deputy (1979/1983). He is one of the founders of Workers Party of Brazil (PT) and member of the Executive and the National Directory of the Party.

Elected Senator of the Republic for the mandate 1991/99, with 4,229,706 votes, Eduardo Suplicy occupied the position of leader of PT in the Federal Senate for three times. Since 1991, Suplicy acts as a Senator for the state of São Paulo. That year, he became the first member of the Workers' Party to take office as Senator. In the 1998 elections for the Federal Senate, Eduardo Suplicy conquered the biggest poll for this position in the Country and the second greatest of the history of São Paulo, with 6,718,463 votes.

Political agenda

One of the most important Bill of Law presented by Suplicy institutes in Brazil the Program of Guaranteed Basic Income. Approved in the Senate in December 1991, it waited for seven years to be voted in the Commission of Finances and Taxation of the House of Representatives.

Suplicy also presented Bills of Law requiring the knowledgement of the main debtors to the Federal Budget, to the Labour Ministry, to the Social Security and Federal Government Saving Bank; creating the structure of the National Co-operative Society System; granting amnesty to the labor union representatives due to political motivations; instituting direct elections for substitutes of candidates to the Federal Senate and authorizing the Executive Power to create the Brazilian Citizenship Fund, among others. To fulfill his campaign promises, Suplicy tried to present a proposition to reduce the senators’ mandate for four years.