Renan Santos
Renan Antônio Ferreira dos Santos, known as Renan Santos, is a Brazilian political activist, entrepreneur, and politician. He co-founded the Free Brazil Movement in 2014 and is the current president of the Mission Party.
Early life and activism
Santos was born on February 14, 1984, in São Paulo, São Paulo. He attended the Law School of the University of São Paulo, but ended up quitting it, although he was intensely involved in student politics during the period. He was a member of the Brazilian [Social Democracy Party] from 2010 to 2015. In Vinhedo, alongside other people, he founded the "Renew Vinhedo Movement", a young libertarian activist group, whose main characteristic was the use of the internet and an irreverent aesthetic to address their issues. The movement had connections with the political group of the former mayor of Vinhedo, Milton Serafim, and his successor, Jaime Cruz, as well as councilor Rubens Alves, who was the father of one of its members.In that same year, members of the Renew Vinhedo Movement, including Santos, joined members of the group known as Students for Freedom and founded the Free Brazil Movement, based on common dissatisfaction with Dilma Rousseff's victory in that year's presidential election.
Free Brazil Movement
The Free Brazil Movement was founded in 2014, in the context of protests against the increase in public transportation fares and, subsequently, mobilizations for the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. Santos, alongside Kim Kataguiri, Fernando Holiday, Rubinho Nunes and others, became one of the main leaders of the movement. They became known for their ability to organize national protests with large turnouts, using social media as a tool for mobilization.Santos and other members of the Free Brazil Movement decided to call for protests shortly after the headquarters of Editora Abril was graffitied by left-wing activists, following the publication of the cover of Veja featuring Lula and Rousseff and the caption "They knew everything" - a reference to the plea bargains of money launderer Alberto Youssef, within the scope of Operation Car Wash.
At the time, according to Santos himself, the Free Brazil Movement concluded that Brazil was undergoing a "Venezuelization" escalation. This was the movement's first protest, which focused on: fraud in the 2014 elections, the Workers' Party use of public funds to finance campaigns, and freedom of the press. The protest, held at the São Paulo Museum of Art, drew approximately 2,500 people.
Santos participated in popular protests that took place in various regions of Brazil, the main objectives of which were to protest against the Dilma Rousseff government and corruption. Millions of people took to the streets in at least 250 Brazilian cities in the first protests on March 13, 2016, becoming the largest protest in Brazilian history. At the time, the Movement declared itself non-partisan, but Santos was caught on camera in February 2016 admitting that the Movement already had the support and funding of major political parties, such as Brazilian Social Democracy Party, Brazilian Democratic Movement, Democrats, and Solidarity.
Following the March 2016 protests, Santos and other Movement members began a march from São Paulo to Brasília, calling for Dilma Rousseff's impeachment. Dubbed the "March for Freedom," it left São Paulo on April 24 and traveled three states and over a thousand kilometers over the course of 33 days, arriving in Brasília on May 27.
Mission Party
For years, the Free Brazil Movement supported candidates from various parties, such as Democrats, Podemos, and Patriota. Figures like Kim Kataguiri and Arthur do Val were elected representatives under traditional parties, but without their own party directly representing the movement.Faced with this scenario, Santos spearheaded the proposal to create a new political party. In 2024, it was officially announced as Mission Party. The name was chosen to convey a sense of purpose, transformation, and political engagement, distancing itself from traditional acronyms that, according to Santos, "carry vices of old politics."
Mission was registered with the Superior Electoral Court after collecting the necessary signatures, a process that Santos helped coordinate. In statements to the press, Santos stated that the party intends to launch candidates for all positions in 2026, including the Presidency. In addition, the party launched the Yellow Book, programmatic material that systematizes its proposals.
Political positions
Santos advocates for economic liberalism, reduced state intervention, and institutional modernization. His speeches emphasize the need for structural reforms and the promotion of entrepreneurship. With Mission, Santos and his allies seek to differentiate themselves from traditional parties with proposals for transparency, innovation, and the participation of new political cadres.Santos advocates for a stricter stance by the State towards organized crime and allowing the police to kill in the event of resistance.
Santos has declared himself a monarchist in livestreams in the YouTube channel of the Free Brazil Movement. He stated that, if elected president, he would be in favour of re-adopting the imperial flag of Brazil. In another occasion he opined that parliamentary democracy, preferably monarchic, was the best system for Brazil.
Lawsuits
In 2016, the news website UOL published an investigative article titled "Free Brazil Movement leader faces more than 60 lawsuits and suffers R$4.9 million in charge." The accusations include fraudulent company closures, tax debts, fraud against creditors, default on labor debts, and moral damages lawsuits.Santos, in turn, commented on the report, claiming that such lawsuits stem from the difficulties of business activity in Brazil, explaining that the lawsuits attributed to him and his family due to ownership of the company "Martin Artefatos de Metal" already existed before the Santos family acquired it. He criticized the article for failing to clearly state the assets the company owns listed in the lawsuit for payment of debts, noting that there was no criminal or illegal activity, and that the lawsuits are all public domain. The court ordered the freezing of the company's bank accounts, but found no funds in them. The seizure of the company's assets was then ordered, and they were auctioned in the hope of collecting amounts owed to creditors. The Federal Revenue Service understands that Santos' family adopted a strategy of buying nearly bankrupt companies, failing to declare or pay taxes, and enriching themselves through the misappropriation of taxes paid by end consumers.
According to an article by El País Brazil in September 2017, members of the Santos family linked to the Free Brazil Movement through the private association "National Renewal Movement" are responsible for more than 125 lawsuits, most related to non-payment of liquidated and certain debts, tax debts, fraud in procedural executions, and labor complaints. Together, as of September 2017, they had accumulated a debt of around 20 million reais. In a report published by the newspaper Metrópoles in March 2022, the article found that Santos owes 6.3 million reais to the fedral union alone, including federal taxes and labor fines.