Mello, Zélia Maria Cardoso de (1953–)

Zélia Maria Cardoso de Mello (b. 20 September 1953) served as the Brazilian minister of economy (1990–1991). The daughter of Emiliano Cardoso de Mello and Auzélia Cardoso de Mello, Mello was born in São Paulo. An economist by training, she was an analyst at the Banco Auxiliar de São Paulo in 1977 and an analyst at the Dumont Assessoria e Planejamento in 1978. She taught at the school of economics and business administration at the University of São Paulo until 1991, when she married television personality and comedian Chico Anysio.

Mello held her first political post in 1983, during the administration of André Franco Montoro, governor of the state of São Paulo. She also served as adviser to the executive board of the Companhia de Desenvolvimento Habitacional do Estado de São Paulo. In 1985, during the administration of President José Sarney, Mello was invited by Minister of the Treasury Dilson Funaro to work with André Calabi on negotiations regarding the debts owed to the federal government by the states and municipalities. At that time she became acquainted with Fernando Collor De Mello (no relation), the governor of Alagoas and later president of Brazil (1990).

In 1987, at the time of Minister of Treasury Dilson Funaro's resignation, she left the Sarney administration and founded the firm ZLC-Consultores Associados, which advised public and private enterprises in business negotiations. One of the firm's first major clients was Governor Fernando Collor de Mello. Upon his decision to run for the presidency, Mello joined his campaign. In 1990, she was appointed minister of economy, treasury, and planning, the first woman to hold such a position. She was in charge of implementing economic strategies outlined in the Brasil Novo (New Brazil) plan. Mello's affair with a fellow married cabinet member led to her resignation, and she left the government on 9 May 1991 to resume her teaching and consulting career. She then returned to the University of São Paulo and continued consulting in Brazil. In 1995, she moved to New York to become a visiting scholar at Columbia University's Institute of Latin America and Iberian Studies. In 1998, she and her husband Anysio, divorced. They have two children. As of 2003, she was Brazil adviser to ORIX Trade Capital in New York.

See alsoEconomic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Economic Development.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barrosso, Pessoa. Zélia: Tesão? Paixão? Ou traiçao? São Paulo: P. Barrosso, 1992.

Sabino, Fernando Tavares. Zélia, uma paixão. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Record, 1991.

                                IÊda Siqueiro Wiarda