Miguel Arraes


Miguel Arraes de Alencar was a Brazilian lawyer and politician. He was mayor of Recife, State Deputy, Federal Deputy and three times Governor of Pernambuco.

Birth

Arraes was born in Araripe in the state of Ceará, but moved to Pernambuco after graduating from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Law.

Imprisonment and exile

In the military takeover of the government of Brazil in 1964 Arraes was jailed and exiled. He initially refused to resign as governor of Pernambuco and was jailed by the military government in a political prison on the island of Fernando de Noronha. Arraes remained in prison for 11 months before being granted asylum in Algeria. He remained there for 14 years and returned to Brazil in 1979.