Djalma Maranhão

Djalma Maranhão
Djalma Maranhão (left) and Jorge Rodrigues

Mayor of Natal
In office 1 January 1964 – 3 April 1964
Preceded by	José Pinto Freire
Succeeded by	Tertius Rebelo
In office 8 April 1956 – 8 April 1959
Preceded by	Wilson de Oliveira Miranda
Succeeded by	José Pinto Freire

Personal details
Born	(1915-11-27)27 November 1915 Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Died	30 July 1971(1971-07-30) (aged 55) Montevideo, Uruguay
Political party	PCB PSB PDS

Djalma Maranhão (27 November 1915 – 30 July 1971) was a Brazilian politician. He was the mayor of the city of Natal for two terms, from 1956 to 1959, and again from 1961 to 1964. He also was a state deputy in and federal deputy from the state of Rio Grande do Norte. He was the first democratically elected mayor of Natal, as well as the last before the Brazilian military dictatorship.

Biography

Maranhão was born on 27 November 1915 in Natal. Prior to his political career he was also a physical education teacher and a journalist. He was a founder and director of local newspapers.^[1] His brother was lawyer and Communist activist Luiz Ignácio Maranhão Filho [pt], who had been forcibly disappeared and murdered by the Brazilian military dictatorship after it came into power in 1964.^[2]

Maranhão was a member of the Brazilian Communist Party until the beginning of the 1940s. Afterwards, he became a member of the National Labour Party (PTN) and later the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB).^[1]

He was elected a state deputy in 1954. He assumed a seat in the Federal Chamber of Deputies as a first substitute from 1959 to 1960. His first term as mayor of Natal came in the mid-1950s after being nominated by governor Dinarte Mariz [pt].^[3] He was elected by direct vote to his second mandate in 1960, the first direct vote for mayor in Natal.^[1] During his time in office, he had enlisted Moacyr de Góes to help expand literacy rates in the city to considerable success.^[4]

Considered to be left-wing, after the coup d'état in April 1964, Maranhão was removed from office as mayor.^[5] He was imprisoned by the military on the island of Fernando de Noronha and in Recife.^[6] He was freed after a habeas corpus order by the Supreme Federal Court in December 1964, and afterwards went into exile in Uruguay. He died while in exile in Uruguay at 56 years old.^[7]^[8] His corpse was repatriated and was buried at Cemitério do Alecrim.^[1]

There is a bust of Maranhão in front of the Padre Miguelinho Palace in Natal.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Direitos Humanos na net - Djalma Maranhão (text by Moacyr de Góes)
^ "Luiz Ignácio Maranhão Filho Assassinado Mortos e Desaparecidos Politicos do RN". www.dhnet.org.br. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
^ "DJALMA CARVALHO MARANHAO". CPDOC - Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação de História Contemporânea do Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). CPDOC-Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação História Contemporânea do Brasil. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
^ "Educador Moacyr de Góes morre de câncer no Rio aos 78 anos". O Globo. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
^ Lima, Denize Rodrigues (1999). "A crise da república populista no Rio Grande do Norte" (PDF). Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte.
^ "Comissão de Inquérito da Prefeitura Municipal do Natal Djalma Maranhão Repressão no RN Coleção Rio Grande do Norte Volume 04 4 Ditadura Militar Tortura Comissão da verdade Potiguar DHnet Portal Comitê Estadual da Verdade Comissão de Inquérito 1964 ABC dos Repressores Reprimidos IPM Inquérito Policial Militar da Subversão Exercito Marinha Aeronáutica CDHMP Centro de Direitos Humanos e Memória Popular Crimes Torturas Mailde Ferreira Moacyr Moacir de Goes Gois Campanha de Pé no Chão Educação Popular Analfabetismo DHnet - Direitos Humanos na Internet". www.dhnet.org.br. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
^ "Djalma Carvalho Maranhão". Memórias da ditadura.
^ "Mortos e Desaparecidos Políticos". www.desaparecidospoliticos.org.br. 31 January 2022.