Édson Santos

Édson Santos de Souza (born 21 July 1954) is a Brazilian sociologist and politician. He has been a city councilor in Rio de Janeiro since 2023, a post he previously occupied from 1989 to 2007. He has also been vice-president of the municipal chamber. He was also a federal deputy from the state of Rio de Janeiro from 2007 to 2015, and the chief minister of the Ministry of Racial Equality from 2008 to 2010. He is currently affiliated with the Workers' Party (PT). He is noted for his long-standing presence in decisions made for racial equality during his time as minister.

Biography Santos was born in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Horto. He studied social sciences at Rio de Janeiro State University at the beginning of the 1980s, during which he was also director of the National Union of Students. He was also president of the Council of Residents of Cidade de Deus, where he had lived for 10 years.

He had been affiliated with the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) from 1985 to 1994, and began to affiliate with the Workers' Party thereafter. He had been a member of the party's national directory from 2006 onward. He was a city councilor in Rio de Janeiro for the first time from 1989 to 2007, for 4 consecutive mandates. He was vice-president and later president of the Permanent Commission on Transport and Transit of the municipal chamber from 1993 to 1996. He earned a master's degree in business administration from the Instituto Alberto Luiz Coimbra of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). He was elected second vice-president of the chamber in 2005 and was also president of the Parliamentary Front in Defense of Peoples' Housing. He participated in 16 parliamentary inquiries. He supported the law that created the Municipal Council of Urban Politics; the law that created a city-wide holiday on the day that quilombo leader and famed rebel leader against slavery Zumbi dos Palmares was killed, also known as Black Awareness Day; and the law that created reduced prices for students to cultural events. being elected again to serve. He lost reelection in 2014.

With the election of 3 candidates from the PT who were previously in the municipal chamber, namely candidates Lindbergh Farias and to the federal Chamber of Deputies, and substitute to the state assembly, Santos went on to assume a post with the municipal assembly once more as a second substitute, beginning his term on 1 February 2023.