Enéas Carneiro

Biography Eneás Ferreira Carneiro was born in Rio Branco, Acre, located in Brazil's far west, in 1938, under extreme poverty. His parents were the barber Eustáquio José Carneiro and the housewife Mina Ferreiro Carneiro. Eustáquio Carneiro passed away when Eneás was nine years old, prompting him to start working from this young age. With an slightly improved financial condition, Eneás and his mother moved to Belém and started living in a shack eating flour and coffee.

Eneás was married to Jamile Augusta Ferreira, a fellow student of the School of Medicine and Surgery of Rio de Janeiro. The couple had one daughter, Janete, after both finished their studies at the School of Medicine. Five years later, Eneás had another daughter, Gabriela, with his union with the speech therapist Selene Maria. This relationship was also not long-running. Eneás, around 1982, married the prosecutor Adriana Lorandi, having his third daughter, Lígia. The third marriage of Enéas was also not long, since the cardiologist had to give away much property to create PRONA.

Three years later, Carneiro finished his degree in medicine and asked to be discharged from the Central Army Hospital after helping in more than 5000 anesthesias and receiving the Marechal Hermes Medal.

Political career In 1989, he established PRONA. In that same year, he ran for the presidency in Brazil's first direct elections after the end of military rule. Under the electoral laws, every candidate was given a daily amount of free airtime to set out their agenda. Because airtime was proportional to the candidate's party's size, PRONA received roughly 15 seconds of airtime per TV appearance. Nevertheless, he made the most of the opportunity. His exotic image—he was a small, bald man with a large beard and "coke-bottle" (informal term for thick lens) glasses—drew attention, as did his inflamed speech. In what would become his trademark, he finished it with the catchphrase "" ('my name is Enéas')—perhaps as gesture of humility or informality, or perhaps a way to save time. The previously unknown candidate placed 12th out of 21 candidates. He got 360,578 votes.

He returned in 1994, making use then of 1 minute and 17 seconds. Surprising political experts, he finished ahead of various established politicians, such as the then-governor of Rio de Janeiro (Leonel Brizola), the former governor of São Paulo (Orestes Quércia), and the then-governor of Santa Catarina (Esperidião Amin), with more than 4.6 million votes.

In 2002, he ran for a seat as a federal deputy representing São Paulo and secured the most votes ever for that office. His party won enough votes under the proportional representation system to elect five more deputies.

Death and legacy Carneiro in December 2006, five months before his death. He shaved off his signature beard before undergoing treatment against myeloid leukemia. Enéas underwent chemotherapy at the Hospital Samaritano for myeloid leukemia. When it became clear that his treatment was not resulting in improvements, he decided to return home, where he remained until his death. Enéas died on May 6, 2007, at approximately 2 pm, at 68 years old, in the Laranjeiras neighborhood of southern Rio de Janeiro. His remains were cremated at the Rio de Janeiro House of Mercy's crematory and his ashes scattered over the Bay of Guanabara.

After his death, on May 8, 2007, Enéas was honored in a rally against abortion in Brasília, on May 8, 2007. According to the Party of the Republic, the politician was one of the organizers of the event.

In 2017, then-deputy and later President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro proposed a bill to include Enéas' name in the Book of National Heroes. Another bill proposing Eneás to be declared the Brazilian patron of electrocardiography was approved in the lower house, but archived in the senate.