Ciro Gomes' family establishes hegemony in Ceará.
Ciro's political group has practically extinguished the opposition in the state of Ceará; of the 46 state deputies, 40 are in the allied base, which includes parties from the PCdoB to the DEM, according to Marlene Bergamo and João Pedro Pitombo in a special report for the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper; Governor Camilo Santana, of the PT, is expected to run for reelection in a large coalition that could reach 24 parties.
247 – Ciro's political group has practically decimated the opposition in the state of Ceará. Of the 46 state deputies, 40 are in the allied base, which includes parties from the PCdoB to the DEM, according to Marlene Bergamo and João Pedro Pitombo in a special report for the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. Governor Camilo Santana, of the PT, is expected to run for reelection in a large coalition that could reach 24 parties and may include politicians who less than a year ago were adversaries of the Ferreira Gomes family.
Ciro's hegemony in Ceará is reflected in the Ferreira Gomes surname. For the first time, he and his four siblings are directly involved in the state's politics. They will compete in this year's elections with Cid Gomes, a pre-candidate for the Senate, and Lia Gomes, who will make her political debut running for a seat in the Legislative Assembly.
The other two brothers did not become candidates, but they hold positions in the public sphere: Ivo Gomes is the mayor of the municipality of Sobral, the family's political stronghold, and Lúcio Gomes is the state secretary of Infrastructure in Camilo Santana's administration.
The political history of the Ferreira Gomes family dates back to 1890, when they first led the Sobral City Hall. And even with such a large family power structure, Ciro Gomes claims not to engage in the practices of the old-style political bosses. He presents himself as a manager who has 'broken' with such practices from the backlands of Ceará.
Euclides Gomes, Ciro's uncle, says: "Talking about politics here is talking about our family." He served two terms as a city councilman in the municipality, which today has 205 inhabitants, according to an article published in Folha.
Read excerpts from the article below and access the link for the full version:
"Politics is buzzing in Beco do Cotovelo, a 75-meter-long by five-meter-wide alley in the central region of Sobral (232 km from Fortaleza). At the café counters, the conversation revolves around the elections, a topic that invariably falls on the family that has been involved in politics in the city for 128 years, the Ferreira Gomes family. 'When he left here, he was a pure boy. Later, he became a friend of those in power,' says Luiz Melo Torquato, 77, pointing to a photo album in which a young Ciro Gomes (PDT) appears in his first campaign for state representative, in 1982."
Since then, Ciro has been a congressman, mayor of Fortaleza, governor of Ceará, and minister twice. In his third attempt to reach the Palácio do Planalto (Presidential Palace), he is uniting parties from opposing poles, undermining adversaries, and establishing historical hegemony in his home state. Supported by Governor Camilo Santana (PT), whom he helped elect in 2014, Ciro's political group has practically decimated the opposition in his state. Of the 46 state deputies in Ceará, 40 are in the allied base, which includes parties from the PCdoB to the DEM.