# 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.
* January 28: 18-year-old Edmar Freitas opens fire on students and classmates in a school in Taiúva, wounding eight people before killing himself.
* January 30: President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva introduces the Fome Zero program, in order to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty in the country.

### 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.

### 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.
* 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.

### September

* September 2: Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil is awarded the Latin Grammy for Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year.

### October

* October 20: President Lula da Silva introduces Bolsa Família, a unified social welfare program.

## 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)