Former president of the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) Renato Rabello died this Sunday (15), aged 83. He presided over the party from 2001 to 2015. The death was confirmed by the party in a statement.
“[O PCdoB] expresses the feeling of consternation of all communist activists who, in honor of Renato, bow the green and yellow flag of the country, intertwined with the red banners of revolution and socialism. And he welcomes in his chest the feelings, the condolences that arrive from the country and abroad and pulsate on social media”.
Renato was national vice-president of the National Union of Students (UNE) during the 1964 military dictatorship, a member of Ação Popular (AP) and a member of the leadership group that led the organization’s integration into the PCdoB in 1973.
He was exiled to France in 1976, when PCdoB leaders were murdered, arrested and tortured in Brazil, and returned with the 1979 amnesty. He dedicated himself, in particular, to strengthening the PCdoB’s relations with socialist countries, notably China, Vietnam and Cuba.
“His greatest work is the contribution of ideas and formulations to the Party’s theoretical, political and ideological collection, important theoretical and political contributions that enriched its tactical, strategic and programmatic thinking, as well as the praxis of its construction and performance in the arena of class struggle”, says the PCdoB note.
Renato was one of the organizers, for the PCdoB, together with João Amazonas, of the Frente Brasil Popular (PT, PSB, PCdoB) that launched, in 1989, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s first candidacy for president of the Republic.
“I received with great sadness the loss of my comrade Renato Rabelo, great leader of the PCdoB. From a very young age, Renato dedicated his activism, intelligence and energy to the defense of workers, socialism and Brazil. He faced dictatorship, persecution and exile”, said, on social media, the chief minister of the Lula Government’s Institutional Relations Secretariat, Gleisi Hoffmann.
The deputy for PCdoB, Jandira Feghali, also paid tribute to the party leader.
Today I say goodbye with deep sadness to a great friend, an ideological, political and emotional reference, who presided over our PCdoB for decades, and one of the greatest builders in the history of Brazil. Renato dedicated his entire life to the fight for democracy, national sovereignty, rights and socialism. Brazil became poorer in ideas and struggle”, he said.
