With a solemn session in the plenary of the Senate, the National Congress remembered, this Wednesday (1st), the centenary of the death of the jurist, writer and politician Ruy Barbosa. When talking about his work in defense of causes such as the abolition of slavery, the guarantee of human rights and the democratization of the country, the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), referred to the honoree as “the greatest of the Brazilians”.
“Ruy Barbosa was a true political modernist, one of the most humane representatives of the Brazilian people, famous for his above-average intelligence, deep cultural knowledge and remarkably eloquent rhetoric, instruments he knew how to use brilliantly in defense of such noble causes. such as the abolition of slavery, the guarantee of human rights, the republican cause and the democratization of Brazil”, stated Pacheco.
Ruy Barbosa served 5 senator terms and ran twice for the Presidency of the Republic – Lula Marques/Agência Brasil
Possessing a remarkable personality, Ruy Barbosa knew how to use the Federal Senate tribune like few others to advocate his causes, most of the time giving true lessons in politics and justice, said the congressman.
Considered the patron of the Senate, the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) and Brazilian lawyers, Ruy Barbosa was also a diplomat, translator and journalist. He was one of the founding members of the Senate in 1890 and served five terms as senator. He ran for President of the Republic twice and was a founding member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL), an entity he chaired between 1908 and 1919.
“If our patron were alive, he would certainly be at the forefront of the fight against the ignoble, dangerous and criminal advance of fake news, that true serpent’s egg of the anti-democratic movements of our time. This is because Barbosa was not only one of the fathers of the Brazilian republic, but also one of the most ardent devotees of democracy. This, he declared, is the ‘principle of the future’, it represents the power of the people, equality and progress — civilizing advances that oppose the retreat of authoritarian governments, since no people that govern themselves would tolerate the substitution of national sovereignty for the sovereignty of the sword, pointed out the President of the Senate.
The President of the Federal Supreme Court, Minister Rosa Weber, who also participated in the session, spoke of Ruy Barbosa’s intransigent defense of the prevalence of individual rights over illegal government acts. “It started from the non-negotiable premise that, between a founding constitutional principle and a momentary political necessity, the principle and a momentary political necessity, the principle would prevail”, she stated.
The former president of the Republic and of the National Congress, José Sarney, highlighted the international recognition of Ruy Barbosa after his participation in the second International Peace Conference, 1907, in the city of The Hague, in the Netherlands. “The great genius who, even abroad, got the title of ‘Eagle of The Hague’ because he raised the doctrine that has remained until today, which was very just and very vindicated, of the equality of all nations, small or large. They should have the same international weight,” said Sarney.
