2008 in Brazil

Incumbents

Federal government

• President: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
• Vice President: José Alencar Gomes da Silva

  Governors

• Acre: Binho Marques
• Alagoas: Teotônio Vilela Filho
• Amapa: Waldez Góes
• Amazonas: Eduardo Braga
• Bahia: Jaques Wagner
• Ceará: Cid Gomes
• Espírito Santo: Paulo Hartung
• Goiás: Alcides Rodrigues
• Maranhão: Jackson Lago
• Mato Grosso: Blairo Maggi
• Mato Grosso do Sul: André Puccinelli
• Minas Gerais: Aécio Neves
• Pará: Ana Júlia Carepa
• Paraíba: Cássio Cunha Lima
• Parana: Roberto Requião de Mello e Silva
• Pernambuco: Eduardo Campos
• Piauí: Wellington Dias
• Rio de Janeiro: Sérgio Cabral Filho
• Rio Grande do Norte: Wilma Maria de Faria
• Rio Grande do Sul: Yeda Rorato Crusius
• Rondônia: Ivo Narciso Cassol
• Roraima: José de Anchieta Júnior
• Santa Catarina: Luiz Henrique da Silveira
• São Paulo: José Serra
• Sergipe: Marcelo Déda
• Tocantins: Marcelo Miranda

  Vice governors

• Acre: Carlos César Correia de Messias
• Alagoas: José Wanderley Neto
• Amapá: Pedro Paulo Dias de Carvalho
• Amazonas: Omar José Abdel Aziz
• Bahia: Edmundo Pereira Santos
• Ceará: Francisco José Pinheiro
• Espírito Santo: Ricardo de Rezende Ferraço
• Goiás: Ademir de Oliveira Meneses
• Maranhão: Luís Carlos Porto
• Mato Grosso: Silval da Cunha Barbosa
• Mato Grosso do Sul: Murilo Zauith
• Minas Gerais: Antonio Augusto Junho Anastasia
• Pará: Odair Santos Corrêa
• Paraíba: José Lacerda Neto
• Paraná: Orlando Pessuti
• Pernambuco: João Soares Lyra Neto
• Piauí: Wilson Martins
• Rio de Janeiro: Luiz Fernando Pezão
• Rio Grande do Norte: Iberê Ferreira
• Rio Grande do Sul: Paulo Afonso Girardi Feijó
• Rondônia: João Aparecido Cahulla
• Roraima: Vacant
• Santa Catarina: Leonel Pavan
• São Paulo: Alberto Goldman
• Sergipe: Belivaldo Chagas Silva
• Tocantins: Paulo Sidnei Antunes

  Events

January

• January 8: The paintings Portrait of Suzanne Bloch by Pablo Picasso and O Lavrador de Café by Cândido Portinari are recovered, after being stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art.

  March

• March 29: Five-year old Isabella Nardoni dies from severe injuries after being thrown out of the sixth floor of a building in São Paulo. This would be one of the most infamous infanticide cases in Brazil.

  April

• April 1: Colombian mega-trafficker Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía is sentenced to 30 years and five months in prison by the Brazilian Federal Court.
• April 4: Killing of Rachel Genofre in Curitiba, Paraná. It would be more than 11 years before authorities would fin Carlos Eduardo dos Santos responsible for the 9-year-old's murder.
• April 20: Priest Adelir Antônio de Carli disappears after taking off in a chair attached to a thousand helium balloons, in Paranaguá, Paraná. The priest's remains were found two months later in the Atlantic Ocean, about 62mi from Macaé, on the coast of Rio de Janeiro, by a tugboat that provided services to Petrobras.
• April 22: An earthquake of a 5.2 magnitude on the Richter scale, with an epicenter in the ocean, is felt in the city of São Paulo and four other Brazilian states.

  June

• June 12: Art works by Lasar Segall, Di Cavalcanti, and Pablo Picasso are stolen from the Pinacoteca art museum in São Paulo by three armed men.

  October

• October 13 - 17: A 15-year-old girl named Eloá Cristina Pimentel is kidnapped, held hostage, and later murdered by her ex-boyfriend. This would be the longest hostage crisis in the state of São Paulo's history. The São Paulo police are heavily criticized for their handling of the crisis.

  November

• November 2: Lewis Hamilton finishes 5th at the Brazilian Grand Prix to win the 2008 Formula One Drivers' Championship, beating Felipe Massa who won the race by 1 point. Scuderia Ferrari however secured the Constructors' Championship.
• November 3: Banks Itaú and Unibanco merge into Itaú Unibanco.

  Deaths

January

• January 9: Carmine Furletti president of Cruzeiro
• January 21: Luiz Carlos Tourinho, actor
• January 22: Dora Bria, windsurfing champion

  February

• February 1:
• *Hélio Quaglia Barbosa, member of the Superior Court of Justice
• *Beto Carrero, theme park owner and entertainer
• February 22: Rubens de Falco, telenovela actor

  March

• March 1: Haroldo de Andrade, radio presenter
• March 29: Isabella Nardoni, murder victim

  April

• April 21: Carmen Silva, actress

  May

• May 17: Zélia Gattai, writer and wife of Jorge Amado

  June

• June 14: Jamelão, samba singer
• June 24: Ruth Cardoso, anthropologist, educator and public figure

  July

• July 11: Breno Mello, footballer and actor
• July 19: Dercy Gonçalves, comedian

  August

• August 16: Dorival Caymmi, singer and songwriter

  September

• September 4:
• *Waldick Soriano, singer and songwriter
• *Fernando Torres, actor and voice-over artist

  October

• October 19: Arthur Sendas, business magnate

  November

• November 3: Lhofei Shiozawa, judoka

  December

• December 25: Olívio Aurélio Fazza, Roman Catholic prelate and bishop of the Diocese of Foz do Iguaçu