Michel Temer

Michel Temer GOIH
24th Vice President of Brazil
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 January 2011
President	Dilma Rousseff
Preceded by	José Alencar
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 2 February 2009 – 17 December 2010
Preceded by	Arlindo Chinaglia
Succeeded by	Marco Maia
In office 2 February 1997 – 14 February 2001
Preceded by	Luís Eduardo Magalhaes
Succeeded by	Aécio Neves
President of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party
In office 9 September 2001 – 5 April 2016
Preceded by	Jader Barbalho
Succeeded by	Romero Jucá
Personal details
Born	Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia 23 September 1940 Tietê, Brazil
Political party	Brazilian Democratic Movement Party
Spouse(s)	Maria Toledo (Divorced) Marcela Tedeschi
Children	6
Alma mater	University of São Paulo Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia (Portuguese pronunciation: [miˈʃɛw miˈɡɛw eˈliɐs ˈtẽmeɾ luˈliɐ], born September 23, 1940) is a Brazilian lawyer and politician who has been Vice President of Brazil since January 2011. He took office after standing as the running mate of Workers' Party candidate Dilma Rousseff in the 2010 election.^[1] He is also the President of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB).

He previously served for six consecutive terms as Federal Deputy for the state of São Paulo in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies,^[2] and on three separate occasions served two-year terms as President of the Chamber (in 1997-1998, 1999-2000 and 2009-2010).^[1] Temer was also a member of the 1988 National Constituent Assembly, which promulgated the current Constitution of Brazil.^[1]

Biography and career

Born in Tietê, São Paulo state, Temer holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the Law Faculty of the University of São Paulo and a doctorate from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. He served as State prosecutor and twice as State Secretary for Public Security, in both capacities working in São Paulo. He is a licensed professor of Constitutional Law at PUC-SP, and has authored numerous books on the subject.

Temer with Dilma Rousseff in 2010.

Vice President Temer bids farewell to Pope Francis in July 2013.

Temer with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at the Itamaraty Palace, in Brasília, 11 October 2013.

He has five children, including three with his first wife Maria, one resulting from a relationship with a journalist, and one more with current wife Marcela, who is 42 years younger than him and started to date him when she was 17, and he was already 60.

He is the second Vice President of Brazil of Lebanese origin, after José Maria Alkmin. His family originates from the town of Btaaboura in Koura District, neighboring the city of Tripoli in Northern Lebanon.^[3][4]

Temer has been the recipient of various foreign honors, including the Grand Cross of Dannebrog, the Knighthood of the Order of Prince Henry (Grand Officer) and the Légion d'Honneur.^[5]

Corruption accusation

As part of the corruption investigations of Operation Car Wash Temer is under investigation for allegedly receiving more than US$1.5 million from a company that received construction contracts from Petrobras; Temer denies wrongdoing, characterizing the payments as legal campaign donations.^[6]

Role in the impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff

In 2015 and 2016, Temer has been involved in controversy as Dilma Rousseff's impeachment process unfolds. In December 2015, Temer sent a letter to the president complaining about his distance from government decisions. The letter began with the Latin proverb "Verba Volant, Scripta Manent" (spoken words fly, written words remain). Temer then describes the communication as “personal,” and a means of unburdening himself about various complaints against the president. He said Rousseff has made him look like a “decorative” vice president rather than an active one, despite having being invited to support her government several times in the dialogue with Congress, a role he only accepted in 2015.

The letter has been commented and mocked on Brazilian social media, with images depicting the vice president as a Christmas decoration, making fun of his use of Latin, and photos purporting to show the president laughing while she reads the missive, among many other things. The president’s office also had no immediate comment on the images.^[7]

Later, in April 2016, an audio file of Temer was leaked to Brazilian media. In the file, Temer speaks as if the impeachment process had already been confirmed and he was the new president.^[8]

“I don’t want to generate false expectations,” Temer said on the recordings, which were first published by Folha de S. Paulo on Monday afternoon. “Let’s not think that a possible change in government will solve everything in three or four months.”

The leak came just hours before a special lower house committee was scheduled to vote whether to back the request to impeach the president, generating complaints and accusations of treachery and lack of support from a vice president conspiring against the elected president.The vice-president alleged it was sent incorrectly to a WhatsApp group of his party's representatives in Congress.

External links

• Official vice presidential portrait

References

1. Presidência da República
2. Líder do PMDB, Temer terá mais força que vices de FHC e de Lula
3. The most powerful Lebanese person alive
4. Politicians of Lebanese descent flourish in Brazil
5. A História da Câmara dos Deputados Michel Temer
6. Associated Press. "3 men in line for Brazilian presidency accused of corruption". foxnews.com. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
7. Trevisani, Paulo; Jelmayer, Rogerio. "Brazil Vice President Sends Letter Criticizing President Dilma Rousseff". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
8. raymondcolitt, Anna Edgerton annaedge4 Raymond Colitt. "Leaked Brazil Tape Shows VP Temer Practicing Unity Address". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-04-17.