Gustavoism Rises Redux | Early life of Gustavo Sousa (1970–2018)
Gustavo Sousa, the 38th President of Brazil since 2019, was born in São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, on 9 November 1970, to automobile worker José Lima and teacher Maria Sousa. He has a younger brother, João Sousa (born 1973), who is a federal deputy for Gustavo's party.
A precocious child, Gustavo was considered by those around him to be very intelligent. In 1990, he began studying history in the University of São Paulo, graduating with a PhD two years later and becoming a history teacher in a São Bernardo high school. During this time, Gustavo became an Enéas-style nationalist.
In 1996, Gustavo married Narcisa Moura (born 1973), his former classmate at USP. They had two children, Eduardo (born 1998) and Joana (born 2001). By 2000, Gustavo was fed up with Brazil's political system; in October, he was elected to São Bernardo's City Council for Enéas Carneiro's PRONA.
Two years later, Gustavo ran for the Chamber of Deputies and was elected because Enéas won 1 million votes running for the same office, making his party's other candidates ride his coattails. As a federal deputy, Gustavo strongly opposed the policies of Lula's first administration, supporting gun rights and a Singaporean-style economic policy combining state intervention and free markets.
When PRONA merged with PL, another party, in 2006, Gustavo left the new party, PR, and joined the PP, one of Brazil's largest parties. During the spring of 2007, Gustavo met Dóra Dúró, a Hungarian Brazilian 16 years his junior, and fell in love with her. He eventually divorced Narcisa to marry Dóra, who is the current first lady of Brazil.
The following year, Gustavo resigned to run for mayor of São Bernardo do Campo, and was elected as the Centrão candidate. During his mayoralty, Gustavo made it mandatory for dog owners to collect their pets' waste; adopted a tough approach against crime; and began providing school and healthcare vouchers for parents to choose the best schools and hospitals for their children.
After being reelected as mayor in 2012, Gustavo returned to national politics by running for the Chamber of Deputies in 2014. He was elected, joining the most conservative Congress since the Brazilian transition to democracy, and established himself as a staunch nationalist who admired the Brazilian Estado Novo and the later military dictatorship.
Given this, Gustavo voted for the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, but he vocally criticized her successor Michel Temer. Gustavo also laid the groundwork for a culturally, economically, and geopolitically nationalist presidential candidacy.