Rosângela Matheus
Encyclopedia
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 politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
.
She was the first woman to be elected governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 states of Brazil.Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of Brazil behind only São Paulo state.The state of Rio de Janeiro is located within the Brazilian geopolitical region classified as the Southeast...
, and the second female governor after Benedita da Silva
Benedita da Silva
Benedita Souza da Silva Sampaio, is a Brazilian politician. During her life she faced a lot of prejudice for her humble origin, but she overcame the adversities and was Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro and, later, Minister of State in the Government of Luiz Inacio Lula da...
. She was elected in 2002, and succeeded da Silva—who was previously deputy to her husband Anthony Garotinho
Anthony Garotinho
Anthony William "Garotinho" Matheus de Oliveira is a Brazilian politician. He started as a radio presenter and changed his name legally to Garotinho - which means "Little Boy" - after it brought him success in his early career as a football commentator...
and had taken office when he resigned to run for president. Rosinha, who had also been secretary of Social Services under him, adopted the stage name Garotinho (originally a nickname he took while working as a radio broadcaster) to have her image associated with that of the husband.
Early life
Rosinha was born in ItaperunaItaperuna
Itaperuna is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Its population was 99,454 and its area is 1,106 km²....
, Rio de Janeiro state, daughter of Gandur Assed and Wilmar Barros Assed. She has lived in Campos dos Goytacazes
Campos dos Goytacazes
Campos dos Goytacazes is a municipality and city located in the northern area of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, with a population of 463,545 inhabitants. Its area is 4,031.910 km², which makes it the largest municipality in the state and its elevation is 14 m...
since she was 4. Until the age of 26, she performed in amateur theater, where she would meet Anthony Garotinho. The couple got married in 1981, and have four children: Clarissa, Wladimir, Anthony, and Clara. They also adopted other five children: Aparecida, Altamir, Amanda, Wanderson, and David.
She taught at the Colégio Batista Fluminense and also worked as a broadcaster in Campos, for Continental, Culture and Littoral FM stations, as well as at Tupi and O Dia
O Dia
O Dia is a major daily newspaper from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Its sales are slightly higher than its main rival, O Globo....
radio stations in Rio de Janeiro city.
During her husband's tenure, she was the State Secretary of Social Action and Citizenship.
Rio de Janeiro Governor
Rosinha was elected governor on the PSB ticket after a fierce competition with the Workers PartyWorkers' 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...
, which until 2002 was part of the State's government in an alliance between Brizola
Leonel Brizola
Leonel de Moura Brizola was a Brazilian politician. Launched in politics by Getúlio Vargas, Brizola was the only politician to serve as governor of two different states in the whole history of Brazil. In 1959 he was elected governor of Rio Grande do Sul, and in 1982 and 1990 he was elected...
's PDT. The Workers' Party was the party of the vice-governor Benedita da Silva
Benedita da Silva
Benedita Souza da Silva Sampaio, is a Brazilian politician. During her life she faced a lot of prejudice for her humble origin, but she overcame the adversities and was Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro and, later, Minister of State in the Government of Luiz Inacio Lula da...
, who had taken office after Garotinho's bid for the presidency, and decided to run on his own ticket for the 2002 elections.
An enthusiastic convert to evangelism
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
- as opposed to Benedita, also a Protestant, but not an outspoken one - Rosinha was charged by the Workers' Party with populism
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
and anti-secularism
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
. In a pamphlet distributed at the time, she and her husband were charged with "manipulating simple people's faith, mixing religion and politics in a dangerous salad" in a "messianic and mistaken attitude". In the ensuing elections, Rosinha won at the first run, defeating Benedita by a difference of 280,000 votes.
During her gubernatorial tenure, although belonging to a nominally Left party, Rosinha nevertheless assumed the usual morally conservative stances proper to evangelical politics worldwide: she was the first proeminent Brazilian politician to jump into the creationist
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
bandwagon, by taking advantage of a State law (State Law 3495/2000, enacted by her husband) that stated that the public educational system was to offer religion classes on a confessional basis - i.e., that public schools were to pay teachers of religion chosen by different confessions' caucuses (namely Catholics, evangelicals and all others)
She was also accused of an aggressive stance towards Afro-Brazilian religions, typical of Brazilian Pentecostalism in general, as well as anti-gay bigotry: during her tenure, Rosinha followed her husband in blocking and vetoing any legislative initiative granting members of same-sex unions involving state public servants to receive pensions for their deceased partners. She also supported a bill presented at the State Legislature by an evangelical representative offering homosexuals free treatment for "healing" their homosexuality.
Nevertheless, as far as race politics were concerned, Rosinha also introduced an affirmative action
Affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
programme in the State's public universities'(UERJ and UENF)enrollement of students. This legislation enforced admission quotas for African-Brazilians and Native Brazilians, as well as former students of public highschools and handicapped people.
Electoral scandals; Mayor of Campos
In 2005, a local electoral court suspended Rosinha's political rights for three years, on the grounds of abuse of economic and political power, misuse of public structure and staff, and distributing money without proven legal source during the 2004 municipal elections. The court found that she and her husband had interfered heavily to keep their local power-base in Campos, by supporting the election of Geraldo Pudim.Along with her husband and Pudim, Rosinha was found guilty of, according to the sentence, distributing social help at random, including houses sold by the government at the symbolic 1R$ rate, offering money for votes, and distributing "school kits" (paper notebooks, briefcases, backsacks, pens and pencils, and other similar items) to students during the electoral campaign in Campos, something forbidden under Brazilian Electoral Law. The ineligibility penalty was, however, later quashed by the regional electoral court, something that allowed Pudim to present himself as candidate in the extraordinary 2006 mayoral elections, while his adversaries were found guilty on the same charges of electoral corruption and prevented from running; Pudim, was, however, defeated.
In the regular 2008 elections Rosinha was elected mayor of Campos in a run-off election, having 54.47% of the valid ballots. She was subsequently, impeached
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
in June 2010 by the regional electoral court on charges of further electoral corruption. As her vice-mayor was also impeached, her office had to be taken over temporarily by the president of the Municipal Chamber, Rosinha's brother-in-law.