Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (Brazilian Portuguese: [feʁˈnɐ̃dwaˈfõsu ˈkɔloʁ dʒi ˈmɛlu]; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Collor was the first president democratically elected after the end of the Brazilian military dictatorship. He became the youngest president in Brazilian history, taking office at the age of 40. After he resigned from the presidency, the impeachment trial on charges of corruption continued. Collor was found guilty by the Senate and disqualified from holding elected office for eight years (1992–2000). He was later acquitted of ordinary criminal charges in his judicial trial before Brazil's Supreme Federal Court, for lack of valid evidence.
Fernando Collor was born into a political family. He is the son of the former Senator Arnon Affonso de Farias Mello and Leda Collor (daughter of former Labour Minister Lindolfo Collor, led by his father, former governor of Alagoas and proprietor of the Arnon de Mello Organization, a media conglomerate which manages the state-wide television station TV Gazeta de Alagoas, the affiliate of TV Globo in the state.)
"Collor" is a Portuguese adaptation of the German surname Köhler, from his maternal grandfather Lindolfo Leopoldo Boeckel Collor.
His time as president was marked by the implementation of the "Collor Plan", the launch of a national privatization program, and the opening of the domestic market to imports, which had a significant impact on the growth of the consumer car market. The plan, initially well-received, ultimately deepened the economic recession, exacerbated by the elimination of over 920,000 jobs in 1990; in addition, allegations of political corruption involving Collor's treasurer, Paulo César Farias, made by his brother Pedro Collor de Mello, led to an impeachment process against him. Before the process could be finalized, the president resigned on 29 December 1992, handing over the position to his vice president, Itamar Franco, just hours before being convicted by the Federal Senate for crimes of responsibility, resulting in the loss of his political rights for eight years. During his presidency, he signed the Treaty of Asunción in 1991, the founding document of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). He merged IAPAS and INPS, creating the current federal agency, the National Social Security Institute (INSS). He led the proceedings of the "Earth Summit" at ECO-92. He also officially approved the demarcation of the Yanomami Indigenous Territory.
Later, after some time living in obscurity, Collor served as Senator for Alagoas from February 2007 to February 2023. He first won election in 2006 and was reelected in 2014. In August 2017, Collor was accused by Brazil's Supreme Federal Court of receiving around US$9 million in bribes between 2010 and 2014 from Petrobras subsidiary BR Distributor. On 24 April 2025, his immediate arrest was ordered to serve his sentence by the Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes. In the early hours of 25 April, he was arrested by the Brazilian Federal Police.
Fernando Collor was born on 12 August 1949, to Leda Collor and Arnon Afonso de Farias Mello, in a very affluent and politically well-connected family. His father was governor and later senator for the state of Alagoas. He has two brothers, Pedro and Leopoldo, and two sisters, Ledinha and Ana. His grandfather, Lindolfo Collor, was a direct descendant of some of the first German immigrants that arrived in Brazil in 1824. Despite being born in Rio de Janeiro, Fernando spent his childhood in the cities of Maceió, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília.
Collor graduated in economic sciences, in 1972, at the Federal University of Alagoas. That same year, he become president of the Gazeta de Alagoas, a newspaper that was run by his family's media conglomerate. In 1975, he married his first wife Celi Elisabete Júlia Monteiro de Carvalho, with whom he had two children. He married a second time, with Rosane Malta (who would become the First Lady) in 1984. No children were born from this union. In 2006, he married Caroline Medeiros, with whom he would have two children. He also had a child born out of wedlock.
Collor became president of Brazilian football club Centro Sportivo Alagoano (CSA) in 1976. After entering politics, he was successively named mayor of Alagoas' capital Maceió in 1979 (National Renewal Alliance Party), elected a federal deputy (Democratic Social Party) in 1982, and eventually elected governor of the small Northeastern state of Alagoas (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party) in 1986.
During his tenure as governor, he gained national attention for his purported efforts to challenge high salaries among public servants, whom he referred to as marajás (maharajas) (likening them to the former princes of India who received a stipend from the government as compensation for relinquishing their lands). The effectiveness of his policies in reducing public expenses remains a subject of debate. However, his stance on the issue significantly increased his popularity across the country, bolstered by appearances on nationally televised broadcasts—an unusual platform for a governor from a smaller state like Alagoas.
Although he gained national prominence as governor of Alagoas and positioned himself as an anti-corruption and anti-establishment candidate for the presidency, his career was marred by corruption scandals dating back to his tenure as mayor of Maceió. Earlier in his life, when he was a Federal Deputy in the National Congress, Collor was regarded as a relatively low-profile politician, primarily proposing legislation that appeared to favor his family's business interests.
In 1989 Collor defeated Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a controversial two-round presidential race with 35 million votes.
In December 1989, days prior to the second round, businessman Abílio Diniz was the victim of a sensational political kidnapping. The act was asserted by some to be an attempt to sabotage Lula's chances of victory by associating the kidnapping with the left wing. At the time, Brazilian law barred any party from addressing the media on the days prior to election day. Lula's party thus had no opportunity to clarify the accusations that the party (PT) was involved in the kidnapping. Collor won in the state of São Paulo against many prominent political figures. The first president of Brazil elected by popular vote in 29 years, Collor spent the early years of his presidency battling inflation, which at times reached rates of 25% a month.
The very day he took office, Collor launched the Plano Collor (Collor Plan), implemented by his finance minister Zélia Cardoso de Mello (not related to Collor). The plan attempted to reduce the money supply by forcibly converting large portions of consumer bank accounts into non-cashable government bonds, while at the same time increasing the printing of money bills, a counterbalancing measure to combat hyper-inflation.
Free trade, privatization and state reforms
Under Zélia's tenure as Brazil's Minister of Finances, the country had a period of major changes, featuring what ISTOÉ magazine called an "unprecedented revolution" in many levels of public administration: "privatization, opening its market to free trade, encouraging industrial modernization, temporary control of the hyper-inflation and public debt reduction."
In the month before Collor took power, hyperinflation was at 90 percent per month and climbing. All accounts over 50,000 cruzeiros (about US$500 at that time), were frozen for several weeks. He also proposed freezes in wages and prices, as well as major cuts in government spending. The measures were received unenthusiastically by the people, though many felt that radical measures were necessary to kill the hyperinflation. Within a few months, however, inflation resumed, eventually reaching rates of 10 percent a month.
During the course of his government, Collor was accused of condoning an influence peddling scheme. The accusations weighed on the government and led Collor and his team to an institutional crisis leading to a loss of credibility that reached the finance minister, Zélia.