Antônio Pedro de Siqueira Indio da Costa
Encyclopedia
Antônio Pedro de Siqueira Indio da Costa (aka Indio da Costa) (born October 20, 1970) is a Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in the Brazilian Democrats
Democrats (Brazil)
The Democrats is a centre-right political party in Brazil, considered the main in the right-wing spectrum. Despite its former name , the party affiliates itself to the Centrist Democrat International, and the International Democrat Union. The name comes from its support to free market policies...

 Party (DEM). On June 30, 2010, it was announced that da Costa had been chosen as the Vice Presidential running mate by leading Presidential candidate José Serra
José Serra
José Serra is a Brazilian politician, former secretary of state, congressman, senator, minister of Planning and Minister of Health, mayor of São Paulo and Governor of São Paulo state.-Background:...

 of the PSDB party.

Background

Indio da Costa holds a law degree from the Universidade Candido Mendes
Universidade Cândido Mendes
Universidade Cândido Mendes is a private university located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is Latin America's oldest private university.-History:...

 and has a Master's degree from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro is one of the largest federal universities of Brazil, where public universities comprise the majority of the best and most qualified institutions...

. Divorced, he has one daughter. Da Costa's cousin, Luís Octavio Indio da Costa, is a banker himself, owning the Banco Cruzeiro do Sul
Banco Cruzeiro do Sul
Banco Cruzeiro do Sul is a Brazil-based bank mainly engaged in the consumer financing segment. It offers redit, investment, brokerage and consulting services, as well as a range of financial products...

. Da Costa's father and brother are known as architects and designers.

Political Life

Indio da Costa entered politics in 1996 as part of the center-right PFL Party PFL. He later joined the administration of Rio de Janeiro mayor Cesar Maia
Cesar Maia
César Epitácio Maia is a Brazilian politician, notable for having been elected three times for mayor of Rio de Janeiro.A native of Rio, born in 1945, Maia was forced to leave Brazil in exile during the 1960s on account of his affiliation with the Brazilian Communist Party...

, busying himself with managing the Aterro do Flamengo gardens first and later as Secretary of Administration (i.e. as comptroller for all matters regarding personnel and public purchases) . Da Costa was elected to the Rio de Janeiro City Council in 1997, where he stayed for three terms, until 2007. As councilman, he was investigated by an inquiry commission of the same council for suspects of overpriced contracting of catering
Catering
Catering is the business of providing foodservice at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, public house , or other location.-Mobile catering:A mobile caterer serves food directly from a vehicle or cart that is designed for the purpose...

 services for Rio's public schools during his earlier spell as secretary , such charges being eventually dismissed. While at the city council, he presented a polemical bill that proposed to forbid almsgiving in the city of Rio de Janeiro, subjecting it to a fine - a bill that was rejected out of hand by the city council as unconstitutional. Between 1999 and 2001, Da Costa was affiliated with the center-left PTB Party. In 2001, he returned to the PFL, which had rebranded itself as the Democrat Party (Democratas or DEM, as it is known today.)

In 2000, Da Costa spent several weeks in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 working inside a major election operation in the United States to get acquainted with tactics and technology used in the mayoral campaign of Michael R. Bloomberg. Da Costa worked alongside Arick Wierson
Arick Wierson
Arick Wierson is an American-born media executive and entrepreneur. His has business interests that span television and film production, political consultancy, and a variety of business interests in the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and Africa...

 who was heading Bloomberg's field operations. Da Costa later announced that he had earlier implemented many of the Bloomberg's management tactics while he was Secretary for Administration in the Maia mayoralty.

In 2006, Da Costa was elected as a Brazilian Federal Deputy (Congressman) and on June 30, 2010, was chosen as the running mate to Presidential candidate José Serra
José Serra
José Serra is a Brazilian politician, former secretary of state, congressman, senator, minister of Planning and Minister of Health, mayor of São Paulo and Governor of São Paulo state.-Background:...

. - in what was seem as a move pressed on Serra by the DEM leadership, as Serra tended to favour a "pure-blooded" PSDB ticket As vice-presidential candidate, he made himself noticed mostly by his declarations accusing the Workers' Party
Workers' Party (Brazil)
The Workers' Party is a democratic socialist political party in Brazil. Launched in 1980, it is recognized as one of the largest and most important left-wing movements of Latin America. It governs at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties since January 1, 2003...

 of connections with the FARC and international drug dealing, something that earned him the nickname of "Serra['s] Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...

".

After the results of the 2010 election, which by the popular vote elected Dilma Roussef as Brazil's first female president, Indio da Costa parted from his former political party "DEM" to become one of the founders of the PSD "Social Democrats Party" along with the current Mayor of São Paulo, Gilberto Kassab.
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