30 Fascinating Things Everyone Should Know About Michel Temer

31 December 2018, 4:07 pm EST By Ruby Karnick

Michel Temer, a Brazilian lawyer and politician, who served as the 37th President of Brazil since 2016, is described by The Economist as a "multitalented politician," believing in a blend of economic and social liberalism, which is quiet unusual in Brazil. Here are some interesting things to know about him:

He served as the 37th President of Brazil since May 12, 2016, as he had replace Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president, following her impeachment trail, until her term ended in December 2018.
He is the oldest President to have taken office, at the age of 75, in the history of Brazil, though his tenure was only for around 30 months.
He refused to step down from the position, even after widespread protests, following a 2017 poll that showed Temer's administration had only 7 percent popular approval, with 76 percent of respondents in favor of his resignation.
On January 1, 2019, he was succeeded y Jai Bolsonaro, in the 2018 elections. Temer did not stand for the President in the said election.
Before taking over as President after the suspension of Dilma Rousseff, he served as Vice President since 2011.
In his first speech as a President, he called for Government of National Salvation and also spoke about his intention to overhaul the pension system and labor laws.
Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia was born on September 23, 1940, in Tietê, São Paulo to Maronite Catholic Lebanese immigrants - Nakhoul "Miguel" Elias Temer Lulia and March Barbar Lulia.
Temer is the youngest of the total of eight siblings who immigrated to Brazil with their parents from Btaaboura, a small Lebanon village, during World War I.
He is not fluent in Arabic, but can discern the topic of conversation in that language. He had various dreams for a career before entering politics, starting with becoming a pianist as a child and a writer as a teenager.
He graduated from the Law School of the University of São Paulo, in the year 1963, like his four elder brothers. It was during his time here, that he became involved with politics, and he even ran for the presidency of the union, but was defeated by 82 votes.

In the year 1974, he completed a doctorate in public law at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP). During this time, he was away from Politics, especially with the beginning of military rule.
He was the director of the postgraduate department of the PUC-SP as well as the Brazilian Institute of Constitutional Law, in 1968.
He published four major works in constitutional law since 1982, but still considered himself a writer only in the year 2013, with his publication of a book of 120 poems, "Anonymous Intimacy."
His most famous book is the "Elements of Constitutional Law," focusing on the organization of the Brazilian state, especially on the separation of powers, sold over 240,000 copies.
Temer was the second Vice President of Lebanese origin, after José Maria Alkmin, who served from the year 1964 to 1967.
He has served two-year terms as president of the Chamber on three separate occasions, as well as six consecutive terms in the Chamber of Deputies. He later became the President of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), the largest party in Brazil.
Temer sent a letter that began with "Verba Volant, Scripta Manent," to the president complaining about his distance from government decisions, describing it as personal unburdening.
The said letter in which he said the then-President Dilma Rousseff, made him look like a decorative vice president, which led to mocking social media images depicting him as a Christmas decoration.
Rousseff has often condemned him as a traitor to her administration, especially with the leaked audio file of Temer related to the impeachment process in April 2016.
In December 2015, the first impeachment attempts proceedings toward Temer were filed, which was blocked by President of the Chamber of Deputies Eduardo Cunha. The second impeachment attempts began on April 6, 2016, followed by four other requests, before Cunha was suspended as speaker of the lower house. Justice Marco Aurélio Mello, on May 17, 2016, allowed the impeachment request to enter the agenda of the Supreme Federal Court plenary session.

Temer, right on the first day as acting president, appointed a new cabinet, reducing the number of ministries from 31 to 22, a move that was criticized for the fact that all the appointed ministers were white men, since 1979.
He received an eight-year ban on June 2, 2016, from running for office, for being convicted of violating election laws. As a result, he could not run or a full term as president in the 2018 election.
Temer led the deputies amend the Constitution of Brazil to cap public spending, effectively frozen for twenty years, adjusted for inflation only, in October 2016. This was both praised and criticized.
His former Minister of Culture, Marcelo Calero resigned in November 2016, stating that Temer had pressured him to help Geddel Vieira Lima, an ally, government secretary. Vieira Lima resigned on November 25, 2016, and opposition leaders stated that they would seek President Temer's impeachment over this incident.
In December 2016, Marcelo Odebrecht confirmed paying bribes to President Temer, which he denied. He was again charged by Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot with accepting bribes and Janot delivered the charges to the Supreme Federal Court, on June 26, 2017.
Temer issued a decree on August 22, 2017, to dissolve the "Reserva Nacional do Cobre e Associados" (Renca) Amazonian reserve in Brazil's northern states of Pará and Amapá.
The share of Brazilians who find his administration bad or very bad rose to 82 percent in June 2018, the most of any president since the nation's return to democracy in 1985.
He has three daughters - Luciana born in 1969, Maristela born in 1972, an Clarissa in 1974, with his first wife Maria Célia Toledo. He also has a son Eduardo, born in 1999, with jounalist érica Ferraz.
He met Marcela Tedeschi in the annual political convention of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) in the year 2002. He married her, 43 years his junior, on July 26, 2003, in a small ceremony. The duo have a son Michel, also known by his nickname "Michelzinho."
In the year 1998, he was honored with the Knighthood of the Order of Prince Henry for exceptional and outstanding merit for Portugal and its culture. The next year, he was awarded with Grand Cross of Dannebrog, for his contribution to the arts, sciences or business life or for those working for Danish interests.