José Serra

José Serra (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛ ˈsɛʁɐ]; born March 19, 1942) is a Brazilian politician who served as a Congressman, Senator, Minister of Planning and Minister of Health, Mayor of São Paulo and Governor of São Paulo state.

Background

José Serra was born in São Paulo's neighbourhood called Mooca to Francesco Serra, an Italian immigrant from Corigliano Calabro, Calabria, and Serafina Chirico, a Brazilian born to Italian parents. Serra comes from a lower middle class family. His father was semi-illiterate and worked as a fruit vendor in a market of São Paulo, but he was able to enrol his only child in college. He was also a prominent member of the socio-politicla movement Ação Popular which opposed the conservative political system which then existed.

Serra interrupted his studies in engineering at age 22 and left the country in 1964, after the coup that established the military government era in Brazil. Serra had come to the attention of the authorities having served as President of the União Nacional dos Estudantes (UNE), (National Student Union) which opposed the conservative regime existing while he was a 4th year engineering student at the Polytechnic School at the University of São Paulo.

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