Relative preeminence of officials for ceremonial purposes
Theorder of precedence inBrazil is a symbolic hierarchy of officials used to direct protocol. It is regulated by Presidential Decree number 70.274 of March 9, 1972, signed by former PresidentEmilio Medici . The following order applies to ceremonies hosted by the federal government.
This formal order of precedence was established during the military dictatorship, and hasn't been amended after the country's return to democracy in the 1980s. However, changes have informally been introduced to it, so that thede jure precedence no longer corresponds to thede facto arrangements that prevail in current practice. For instance, the head of the military cabinet, the head of the intelligence service and general officers of the Armed Forces no longer enjoy a precedence as high as is assigned to them by the 1972 Decree.
Other modifications of the order of precedence arise from the fact that certain officers, such as the Chief of Staff to the President, the Solicitor-General, etc., have been granted by law the status of Ministers of State, and so the holders of such officers now have a higher rank than they would have otherwise.
The order of precedence is only used to indicate ceremonial protocol; it does not reflect the co-equal status of the branches of government under the Constitution, and is not an actual hierarchy. The ranking of Brazilian officers in the Order of Precedence also does not reflect the place of those officers in the presidential line of succession.
The placement of Roman Catholic cardinals in the order of precedence in spite of theseparation of church and state in force in Brazil is justified on the grounds that they are princes of a foreign power (theHoly See ) residing in Brazil and/or holding Brazilian nationality. However cardinals are no longer ascribed as high a precedence as the 1972 Decree ascribes to them, being in current practice outranked for instance by the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies, of the Federal Senate, of the Federal Supreme Court and by the attorney general of the Republic, as well as by former presidents of the Republic and by the Ministers of State.
Order of precedence according to the Decree [ edit ] ThePresident of the Republic (Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ) TheVice President of the Republic (Geraldo Alckmin ) Braziliancardinals (by seniority of assuming title)Odilo Pedro Scherer (Archbishop of São Paulo )Raymundo Damasceno Assis (Archbishop Emeritus of Aparecida )João Braz de Aviz (Prefect of Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life inVatican City )Orani João Tempesta (Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro )Sérgio da Rocha (Archbishop of Salvador )Leonardo Ulrich Steiner (Archbishop of Manaus )Paulo Cezar Costa (Archbishop of Brasília )Jaime Spengler (Archbishop of Porto Alegre ) Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of foreign diplomatic mission to Brazil The President of theFederal Senate and of theNational Congress (Davi Alcolumbre ) The President of theChamber of Deputies (Hugo Motta ) The President of theSupreme Federal Court (Luís Roberto Barroso ) Former Presidents of Brazil (by seniority of assuming office, as long as they don't have other public office)José Sarney (21 April 1985 – 15 March 1990)Fernando Collor de Mello (15 March 1990 – 29 December 1992)Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1 January 1995 – 31 December 2002)Dilma Rousseff (1 January 2011 – 31 August 2016)Michel Temer (31 August 2016 – 31 December 2018)Jair Bolsonaro (1 January 2019 – 31 December 2022) Former Vice Presidents of Brazil (by seniority of assuming office, as long as they don't have other public office)Hamilton Mourão (1 January 2019 – 31 December 2022) Ministers of State (by order of creation)Minister of Justice and Public Security (Ricardo Lewandowski )Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mauro Vieira )Minister of Finance (Fernando Haddad )Minister of Agriculture and Livestock (Carlos Fávaro )Minister of Education (Camilo Santana )Minister of Labour and Employment (Luiz Marinho )Minister of Health (Nísia Trindade )Minister of Mines and Energy (Alexandre Silveira )Minister of Communications (Juscelino Filho )Minister of Environment and Climate Change (Marina Silva )Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (Luciana Santos )Minister of Human Rights and the Citizenship (Macaé Evaristo )Minister of Defence (José Múcio )Minister of Tourism (Celso Sabino )Minister of Integration and the Regional Development (Waldez Góes )Minister of Indigenous People (Sônia Guajajara )Minister of Racial Equality (Anielle Franco )Minister of Women (Cida Gonçalves )Minister of Transport (Renan Filho )Minister of Ports and Airports (Sílvio Costa Filho )Minister of Culture (Margareth Menezes )Minister of Sports (André Fufuca )Minister of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (Wellington Dias )Minister of Fishing and Aquaculture (André de Paula )Minister of Management and the Innovation in Public Services (Esther Dweck )Minister of Social Security (Carlos Lupi )Minister of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture (Paulo Teixeira )Minister of Cities (Jader Barbalho Filho )Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (Geraldo Alckmin )Minister of Entrepreneurship, Microenterprise and Small Business (Márcio França )The Head of theInstitutional Security Bureau (Marcos Antonio Amaro dos Santos ) TheChief of Staff (Rui Costa ) The Director of theBrazilian Intelligence Agency (Luiz Fernando Corrêa) The Commanders of theArmed Forces (by creation of branch)Commander of theBrazilian Navy (Adm.Marcos Sampaio Olsen ) Commander of theBrazilian Army (Gen.Tomás Ribeiro Paiva ) Commander of theBrazilian Air Force (Lt. Brig.Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno ) Chief of theJoint Staff of the Armed Forces (Adm.Renato Rodrigues de Aguiar Freire ) Secretary-General of theMinistry of Defence (Luiz Henrique Pochyly da Costa) TheAttorney General of the Union (Jorge Messias ) Foreign envoys The President of theSuperior Electoral Court (Cármen Lúcia ) Justices of theSupreme Federal Court Gilmar Mendes Cármen Lúcia Dias Toffoli Luiz Fux Edson Fachin Alexandre de Moraes Nunes Marques André Mendonça Cristiano Zanin Flávio Dino Prosecutor General of the Republic (Paulo Gonet Branco )Governors of State (by creation date)Governor ofBahia (Jerônimo Rodrigues )Governor ofRio de Janeiro (Cláudio Castro )Governor ofMaranhão (Carlos Brandão )Governor ofPará (Helder Barbalho ) Governor ofPernambuco (Raquel Lyra ) Governor ofMinas Gerais (Romeu Zema )Governor ofSão Paulo (Tarcísio de Freitas )Governor ofGoiás (Ronaldo Caiado ) Governor ofMato Grosso (Mauro Mendes )Governor ofRio Grande do Sul (Eduardo Leite )Governor ofCeará (Elmano de Freitas )Governor ofParaíba (João Azevedo) Governor ofEspírito Santo (Renato Casagrande )Governor ofPiauí (Rafael Fonteles) Governor ofRio Grande do Norte (Fátima Bezerra ) Governor ofSanta Catarina (Jorginho Mello ) Governor ofAlagoas (Paulo Dantas ) Governor ofSergipe (Fábio Mitidieri) Governor ofAmazonas (Wilson Lima )Governor ofParaná (Ratinho Júnior )Governor ofAcre (Gladson Cameli )Governor ofMato Grosso do Sul (Eduardo Riedel )Governor ofRondônia (Marcos Rocha)Governor ofTocantins (Wanderlei Barbosa )Governor ofRoraima (Antonio Denarium )Governor ofAmapá (Clécio Luís)The Governor of theFederal District (Ibaneis Rocha ) Senators Federal Deputies Admirals of theBrazilian Navy Marshals of theBrazilian Army Marshals of the air of theBrazilian Air Force Admirals of the fleet of theBrazilian Navy Generals of theBrazilian Army Ambassadors Lt. Brigadiers of theBrazilian Air Force The President of theSuperior Court of Justice (Herman Benjamin) The President of the Superior Military Court (Maria Elizabeth Rocha) The President of theFederal Court of Accounts (Vital do Rêgo Filho ) The President of the Superior Labour Court (Aloysio Corrêa da Veiga) Justices of theSuperior Electoral Court Chargé d'affaires of foreign countriesJustices of the Superior Justice Court Justices of the Superior Military Court Justices of the Superior Labour Court Vice admirals of theBrazilian Navy Divisional generals of theBrazilian Army Major-brigadiers of theBrazilian Air Force CatholicArchbishops The President of the Justice Court of the Federal District and Territories (José Cruz Macedo) Secretaries-General of theFederal Senate and theChamber of Deputies Prosecutors of the Republic in the States of the UnionProsecutors-General in the States of the Union Directors of theMinistries of State Deans of Federal UniversitiesThe Director General of theFederal Police of Brazil (Andrei Rodrigues) The President of theCentral Bank of Brazil (Gabriel Galípolo ) The Chairwoman of theBanco do Brasil (Tarciana Medeiros) The President of theBrazilian Development Bank (Aloizio Mercadante ) The Secretary of the Federal Revenue Service (Robinson Sakiyama) Chairperson ofFederal Savings Bank (Carlos Vieira) Mayors of cities with more than 1,000,000 inhabitants Counter admirals of theBrazilian Navy Brigadier-Generals of theBrazilian Army Brigadiers of theBrazilian Air Force Vice Governors of the States of the Union Presidents of the Legislative Assemblies of the States of the Union Presidents of the Justice Courts of the States of the Union Chair of the Permanent Committee of the Book of the Merit Chair of theBrazilian Academy of Letters (Merval Pereira) Chair of theBrazilian Academy of Sciences (Luiz Davidovich) Chair of the Brazilian Association of Press (Paulo Jerônimo) Deans of State and Private UniversitiesState Secretaries CatholicBishops Presidents of Employers' and Workers' Confederations in national scale Directors of Central Bank of Brazil Directors of Bank of Brazil Directors of Brazilian Development Bank Captains of sea and war of the Brazilian NavyColonels of the Brazilian ArmyColonels of the Brazilian Air Force State Deputies Commanders of the Military Polices of the States of the Union Desembargadores of the Justice Courts of the States of the UnionForeign consuls Federal Judges Catholic Monsignors Frigate captains of the Brazilian NavyLt. Colonels of the Brazilian Army Lt. Colonels of the Brazilian Air Force Presidents of Employers' and Workers' Confederations in regional or state scale Presidents of Municipal Chambers in cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants Law Judges Public Prosecutors Department Heads of Federal Universities Mayors of cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants Corvette captains of the Brazilian NavyMajors of the Brazilian Army Majors of the Brazilian Air Force Department Heads of State and Private Universities Presidents of Municipal Chambers of cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants Universities professors Other Mayors Catholic Canons Lt. Captains of the Brazilian Navy Captains of the Brazilian Army Captains of the Brazilian Air Force Presidents of other Municipal Chambers Catholic Priests Principals of High Schools Aldermen