Wladimir Pomar, who coordinated Lula’s 1st presidential campaign, dies

Journalist and writer Wladimir Pomar died early this Friday (9), aged 86. A member of the PT leadership, Pomar was coordinator of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign for the presidency of the Republic in 1989. His death was confirmed by his son, Valter Pomar, leader of the Workers’ Party and professor of International Relations. In a note, Valter Pomar wrote that his father would turn 87 on July 14th. “There were plans to celebrate the occasion, calling friends, comrades and the extended family: four great-grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, seven grandchildren and four granddaughters, three children and his wife Rachel. Complications resulting from dysplasia prevented this and led to a terribly painful end to his life, totally different from what he sometimes said he wanted to live – and particularly unfair to such a kindly fellow, to quote a term from Spinoza, not the philosopher , but that very tall militant, so often seen alongside Lula, especially since the 1989 presidential campaign, which Wladimir helped to coordinate”, wrote the son. Born in Belém, Pará, in 1936, Wladimir Ventura Torres Pomar was the son of a communist militant persecuted by the dictatorship of Getulio Vargas. At the age of 13, he became a member of the Communist Party, having acted in the student movement and in the metallurgical trade union movement. He was arrested during the military dictatorship and lived in hiding for a period. He joined the Workers’ Party (PT) in 1984 and became a member of the party’s national executive, having served as general coordinator of Lula’s campaign for the presidency in 1989. , began to collaborate in a militant way with the PT, without holding formal positions. He wrote several books like The Dialectic of History; Almost There – Lula, the Fright of the Elites; and an autobiography called The Name of Life. He has also written several books on China studies, such as The Chinese Enigma: Capitalism or Socialism and The Chinese Revolution. Lula mourns death Pomar’s death was mourned by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In a note, the president wrote that “Wladimir Pomar was a militant and a valued intellectual of the Communist Party of Brazil and the Workers’ Party. He fought for social causes throughout his life, facing dictatorship and repression at different times in Brazil’s history”. “He was on the National Executive of the PT, he coordinated the Cajamar Institute and my first presidential campaign, in 1989. He wrote several books, in particular on the development of China, a subject he studied diligently in the last years of his life. To his companions, friends, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Wladimir Pomar, I leave my solidarity embrace for the loss of this friend and companion”, wrote Lula. The chief minister of the Social Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Paulo Pimenta, also wrote about the death of Wladimir Pomar. “It is with regret that I record the death of Wladimir Pomar, a historic activist dedicated to the causes of the Brazilian people. He leaves the importance of studying and understanding the world as a legacy to the new generations”, said the minister. Note from the PT The Workers’ Party also mourned Pomar’s death. “Wladimir Pomar dedicated his entire life to the cause of socialism, for which he courageously fought from his youth, in the Communist Party of Brazil, until his last days. He faced dictatorship, prison, torture and the brutal loss of many of his comrades, including his father, Pedro Pomar, murdered in the Chacina da Lapa, in 1976. He was one of the founders of the Workers’ Party, member of the National Executive of the PT , coordinator of the Cajamar Institute and of Lula’s first presidential campaign, in 1989, bequeathing an invaluable practical and theoretical contribution to the political training of our militants and leaders. In all the trenches in which he acted, Wladimir Pomar was an admirable, beloved and respected comrade. His death, this morning, deeply dismayed us”, says a party note signed by Gleisi Hoffmann, president of the National Directorate of the PT, and by Henrique Fontana, general secretary of the PT.

Agência Brasil