Considered an enthusiast of modern things, Augusto da Silva Lucena is the target of both criticism and praise when it comes to his administration as mayor of the city of Recife for two terms.
He was born inGuarabira,Paraiba, toJosé da Silva Pereira de Lucena and Maria de Sampaio Lucena, on the fourteenth day of February 1916.
At the age of 21 (1937),he came to Recife for further studies of law at the Gymnasium Pernambucano. He graduated from the RecifeFacultyof Law in 1944, and was a lawyer at the Recife Forum from 1944 to 1948.
During the Governments of Barbosa Lima(1948-1951),Agamenon Magalhães(1951-1952) and Etelvino Lins de Albuquerque (1952-1955), he was respectively nominated as head of the Accident Agency, head of the Pernambuco State Investigations and Capture Agency, and the PernambucoState Transit Agency.
In 1954, he married Ieda Montezuma Arcoverde de Lucena. That same year, he launched his candidacy for state representative on the ticket of the Social Democratic Alliance, made up of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and the Liberation Party (PL), and took a seat in the LegislativeAssembly in 1955.
He was elected two more times (1958 and 1962) to the Legislative Assembly by the PSP and the Christian Democratic Party.
He was deputy-mayor of the city of Recife in 1963. The following year, he was appointed Mayor when the military coup that oustedBrazilianPresident JoãoGoulart resulted in the removal of Governor Miguel Arraes and of Mayor PelópidasSilveira. During this period, he joined the National Renewal Alliance (ARENA).
With the end of his first term (1964-1968), he was elected councillor for the Recife Municipal Council (1968, re-elected in 1975) and Federal Congressman (1970, re-elected in 1978).
He was appointed Mayor of Recife for the second time in the government of Eraldo Gueiros Leite(1971-1975), initiating and finishing many public works considered essential to the city, including some unfinished from his first term. Among these was the extension of DantasBarreto Avenue, whichin its process caused the demolition of the Church of Kind Jesus of the Martyrs and the destruction of part of the São Joséneighbourhood, albeit considered necessary in the view of some government officials. A controversial issue even today.
Augusto Lucena died in Recife, on 22October 1995.
Works carried out:
1964-1968 (1st term):built: the City Council building; the Municipal College for teaching primary and secondary schools; more than 4000 housing units; many avenues, including: Caxangá, Antonio de Góis, JoséEstelita, Nossa Senhora do Carmo,Agamenon Magalhães, Domingos Ferreira, Abdias de Carvalho and Cais do Apolo; the Limoeiro, Jiquiá, Capungaand Caxangábridges;
* created: the Housing Company of Recife, the GuararapesFoundation forbasic and handicraft education;
* set upMobral-Recife;
* promoted the industrial expansion of Supply Company of Recife (COMPARE).
1971-1975 (2nd term):created: the Recife Urbanization Company (URB), the Madrigal Choir of Recife;· implemented the mercury lighting system;
* built: COHAB houses, the Convention Plaza, the Santa Rita Quay gardens, the UR-7 Medical Unit, the AfogadosEmergency Dental Hospital;
* expanded and reformed Independence Square, and DantasBarreto Avenue;
* urbanised Boa Viagem beach.
Recife, 23 february 2007.
(Update on 14 septembrer 2009).
Translated by Peter Leamy, February 2012.
sources consulted
ALMANAQUE Recifense: velhas e novas paisagens. Recife: Printer, 2006. p. 50.
AUGUSTO da Silva Lucena. Disponível em:<http://www.alepe.pe.gov.br/perfil/links/AugustoLucena.html>. Acesso em: 9 fev.2007.
PREFEITO Augusto Lucena. Boletim da Cidade do Recife, Recife, n. 63/169, [s. p.], jan./dez. 1957/1967.
how to quote this text
Source: BARBOSA, Virgínia. Augusto Lucena. Pesquisa Escolar Online, Joaquim Nabuco Foudation, Recife. Available at: <http://basilio.fundaj.gov.br/pesquisaescolar/>. Accessed: day month year. Exemple: 6 Aug. 2009.