The economist, former minister, and former deputy Antonio Delfim Netto died this Monday (12), in São Paulo, at 96 years old. He had been hospitalized for a week at the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital due to complications in his health condition. He is survived by a daughter and a grandson.

Delfim was a complex figure. The minister who signed the AI-5 in 1968, and was the only one still alive among the signatories of the act that inaugurated the Years of Lead in the country, was also the federal deputy who, 20 years later, endorsed the 1988 Constitution, considered one of the most democratic in the world.

He was the strongman of the generals during the military regime (1964-1985) and, almost two decades later, one of Lula’s main interlocutors in the first two terms of the former metalworker.

The economist and professor at USP knew how to reinvent himself throughout his career.

He used to say in life that he had been three: the first, a Fabian socialist, an adherent of the English movement that emerged in the 19th century and advocated for the implementation of socialism through gradual reforms. The second, the man of the military government. And the third, the one who contributed to the social policies of Lula’s first government (2003-2010).

"A brilliant and multifaceted figure on the national scene, he leaves abundant material for historians," summarized Arminio Fraga, former president of the Central Bank."