2003 in Brazil

Events in the year 2003 in Brazil.

Incumbents

Federal government

• President: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
• Vice President: José Alencar Gomes da Silva

Governors

• Acre: Jorge Viana
• Alagoas: Ronaldo Lessa
• Amapa: Waldez Góes (from 1 January)
• Amazonas: Eduardo Braga (from 1 January)
• Bahia:
  • Otto Alencar (until 1 January)
  • Paulo Souto (from 1 January)
• Ceará:
  • Beni Veras (until 1 January)
  • Lúcio Alcântara (from 1 January)
• Espírito Santo:
  • José Ignácio Ferreira (until 1 January)
  • Paulo Hartung (from 1 January)
• Goiás: Marconi Perillo
• Maranhão: José Reinaldo Tavares
• Mato Grosso: Blairo Maggi (from 1 January)
• Mato Grosso do Sul: José Orcírio Miranda dos Santos
• Minas Gerais:
  • Itamar Franco (until 1 January)
  • Aécio Neves (from 1 January)
• Pará:
  • Almir Gabriel (until 1 January)
  • Simão Jatene (from 1 January)
• Paraíba: Cássio Cunha Lima (from 1 January)
• Paraná:
  • Jaime Lerner (until 1 January)
  • Roberto Requião de Mello e Silva (from 1 January)
• Pernambuco: Jarbas Vasconcelos
• Piauí:
  • Hugo Napoleão (until 1 January)
  • Wellington Dias (from 1 January)
• Rio de Janeiro:
  • Benedita da Silva (until 1 January)
  • Rosinha Garotinho (from 1 January)
• Rio Grande do Norte:
  • Fernando Antonio Chamber Freire (until 1 January)
  • Wilma Maria de Faria (from 1 January)
• Rio Grande do Sul:
  • Olívio Dutra (until 1 January)
  • Germano Rigotto (from 1 January)
• Rondônia: Ivo Narciso Cassol (from 1 January)
• Roraima: Francisco Flamarion Portela
• Santa Catarina:
  • Esperidião Amin (until 1 January)
  • Luiz Henrique da Silveira (from 1 January)
• São Paulo: Geraldo Alckmin
• Sergipe:
  • Albano Franco (until 1 January)
  • João Filho (from 1 January)
• Tocantins: Marcelo Miranda (from 1 January)

Vice governors

• Acre:
  • Edison Simão Cadaxo (until 1 January)
  • Arnóbio Marques de Almeida Júnior (from 1 January)
• Alagoas:
  • Geraldo Costa Sampaio (until 1 January)
  • Luís Abílio de Sousa Neto (from 1 January)
• Amapá:
  • Maria Dalva de Souza Figueiredo (until 1 January)
  • Pedro Paulo Dias de Carvalho (from 1 January)
• Amazonas:
  • Samuel Assayag Hanan (until 1 January)
  • Omar José Abdel Aziz (from 1 January)
• Bahia: Eraldo Tinoco Melo (from 1 January)
• Ceará: Francisco de Queiroz Maia Júnior (from 1 January)
• Espírito Santo:
  • Celso José Vasconcelos (until 1 January)
  • Wellington Coimbra (from 1 January)
• Goiás: Alcides Rodrigues Filho
• Maranhão: Jurandir Ferro do Lago Filho (from 1 January)
• Mato Grosso: Iraci Araújo Moreira (from 1 January)
• Mato Grosso do Sul:
  • Moacir Kohl (until 1 January)
  • Egon Krakheche (from 1 January)
• Minas Gerais:
  • Newton Cardoso (until 1 January)
  • Clésio Soares de Andrade (from 1 January)
• Pará:
  • Hildegardo de Figueiredo Nunes (until 1 January)
  • Valéria Pires Franco (from 1 January)
• Paraíba: Lauremília Lucena (from 1 January)
• Paraná:
  • Emília de Sales Belinati (until 1 January)
  • Orlando Pessuti (from 1 January)
• Pernambuco: José Mendonça Bezerra Filho
• Piauí:
  • Felipe Mendes de Oliveira (until 1 January)
  • Osmar Ribeiro de Almeida Júnior (from 1 January)
• Rio de Janeiro: Luiz Paulo Conde (from 1 January)
• Rio Grande do Norte:
  • Vacant (until 1 January)
  • Antônio Jácome (from 1 January)
• Rio Grande do Sul:
  • Miguel Soldatelli Rossetto (until 1 January)
  • Antônio Carlos Hohlfeldt (from 1 January)
• Rondônia:
  • Miguel de Souza (until 1 January)
  • Odaísa Fernandes Ferreira (from 1 January)
• Roraima:
  • Salomão Afonso de Souza Cruz (1 January-10 November)
  • Erci de Moraes (from 10 November)
• Santa Catarina: Eduardo Pinho Moreira (from 1 January)
• São Paulo:
  • Vacant (until 1 January)
  • Claudio Lembo (from 1 January)
• Sergipe:
  • Benedito de Figueiredo (until 1 January)
  • Marília Mandarino (from 1 January)
• Tocantins:
  • João Lisboa da Cruz (until 1 January)
  • Raimundo Nonato Pires dos Santos (from 1 January)

Events

January

• January 1: Syndicalist leader and leader of the Workers' Party, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is inaugurated as President of Brazil.^[1]
• January 28: 18-year-old Edmar Freitas opens fire on students and classmates in a school in Taiúva, wounding eight people before killing himself.^[2]
• January 30: President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva introduces the Fome Zero program, in order to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty in the country.^[3]

June

• June 20: An earthquake that reaches a 7.0 magnitude on the Richter scale, hits the state of Amazonas. It is the biggest tremor recorded in Brazil.^[4]

August

• August 19: A car-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees.^[5][6][7]
• August 22: An explosion at the Alcântara Launch Center kills 21 scientists. This would become the biggest accident in the history of the Brazilian space program.^[8]

September

• September 2: Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil is awarded the Latin Grammy for Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year. ^[9]

October

• October 20: President Lula da Silva introduces Bolsa Família, a unified social welfare program.^[10]

Births

• June 21: Giovana Queiroz, football player

Deaths

January

• January 25: Scylla Médici, First Lady of Brazil (1969-1974) (b. 1907)

March

• March 7: José Márcio Ayres, conservationist and zoologist (b. 1954)

April

• April 24: Gino Orlando, footballer (b. 1929)

May

• May 8: Elvira Pagã, vedette (b. 1920)
• May 25: Almir Chediak, musician and entrepreneur (b. 1950)

June

• June 12: Itamar Assumpção, songwriter and composer (b. 1949)

July

• July 28: Noite Ilustrada, singer-songwriter (b. 1928)
• July 31: Bigode, footballer (b. 1922)

August

• August 6: Roberto Marinho, founder of Grupo Globo, the largest mass media company in Brazil and Latin America (b. 1904)
• August 19: Sérgio Vieira de Mello, United Nations diplomat (b. 1948)