Profile

Jurist, politician, writer, and journalist. José Sarney graduated in Law from the Federal University of Maranhão (1953). He served as Federal Deputy, Governor of Maranhão, Senator, and President of the Federal Senate of Brazil, and was the 31st President of Brazil, from 1985 to 1990.

He also has an extensive literary career as the author of novels, essays, chronicles, short stories, and poetry. He is a member of the Maranhão Academy of Letters (since 1953) and of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (since 1980).

Among the many foreign decorations he has received, he was distinguished by the Presidents of the Portuguese Republic with the Grande Colar da Ordem Militar de Sant’Iago da Espada (1986), the Grande Colar da Ordem Militar de Cristo (1997), and the Grã-Cruz da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique (2000).