Fernando Gómez Oliveira, former mayor of the municipality of Itabuna (BA), died on Sunday afternoon at the age of 83 in El Salvador. He rose to national prominence after going viral on the internet when he said in an online broadcast in 2020 that he would allow the reopening of commercial establishments in the “die who dies” city during the covid-19 pandemic.

The confirmation of the death was made by the current mayor of Itabuna, Augusto de Castro (PSD) and Governor of Bahia, Rui Costa (PT) on social media. O UOL also confirmed that the former mayor was admitted to the Aliança hospital in El Salvador, but the medical department did not provide more details about the patient’s case.

Fernando Gómez has served as Mayor of Itabuna for five terms since 1977. The municipality’s last term of office expired in December 2020. That same year, according to the newspaper A Tarde, the TRE-BA (Regional Electoral Court of Bahia) rejected Fernando Gomes. ‘ request to run for re-election to the mayor’s office. He was also a federal deputy.

“Itabuna Mayor Augusto Castro mourns the death of former Itabuna Mayor Fernando Gomes Oliveira today, 24th, in El Salvador, where he was hospitalized with illness. A politician since the 1960s, he has had five mayoral mandates throughout his trajectory that began in 1977 when he succeeded former mayor José Oduke Teixeira,” said the current mayor of the municipality.

Augusto de Castro also announced a three-day official mourning in memory of the former mayor, “whose political and administrative trajectory is universally recognized. May he rest in peace.”

Governor Rui Costa also declared three days of official mourning in the state in connection with the death of Fernando Gomes.

“I want to express my condolences on the death of the former mayor of Itabuna and former federal deputy Fernando Gomez. May God comfort his family, friends and the people of Italy. In Bahia, official mourning has been declared for 3 days, ”the newspaper wrote. politics on twitter.

Fernando Gomes is leaving his wife Sandra Neilma, with whom he had two daughters and four more children, from his previous relationship with Ghislaine Neiva Monteiro Olivera, according to the mayor’s post.

O UOL trying to contact Rede D’Or, of which Hospital Aliança is a part. Article will be updated if returned.

Controversy in a pandemic

In June 2020, a few months after the first cases of covid-19 in Brazil, Fernando Gomes Oliveira said in a broadcast that went viral on the Internet on Tuesday that he would allow the reopening of commercial establishments in the “die who die” city. Relaxation of measures against the spread of new coronavirusaccording to the politician, will be held on July 9 of the same year.

“First, concern for life. Life is one. It is dead, finished with it. There is no fortune, no poverty, no bankruptcy, nothing. But I cannot open what I have no coverage for. dying because of the bed , in Itabuna I’m going to reschedule this discovery [do comércio]. I closed it on the 8th, I already had a decree that opens on the 9th, whoever dies will die,” he said.

According to Sesab (State Department of Health of the State of Bahia), at the time of the former mayor’s announcement, Itabuna had 2,637 confirmed cases of covid-19 and 58 reported deaths.

Following the controversy, Fernando Gómez attributed the statement to being pressured when he said he was authorizing the opening of the city’s “die who die” trade and denied neglecting the lives of the population.