Marcelo Crivella Politician

Marcelo Bezerra Crivella (Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐʁˈsɛlu biˈzeʁɐ kɾiˈvɛlɐ], Rio de Janeiro, October 9, 1957) is a Brazilian bishop of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), an international evangelical church founded by his uncle Edir Macedo in 1977; a gospel singer, and a politician. In 2002, Crivella was elected as a federal Senator of Brazil from the state of Rio de Janeiro on a Liberal Party ticket. He has since helped found the Brazilian Republican Party (PRB), which has been allied with President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva.With a Civil Engineering degree from Universidade Santa Ursula, Crivella became known for planning and execution of the Projeto Nordeste, a charitable project to redevelop lands abandoned by the Brazilian federal government in the city of Irecê. The project was developed to use Israeli irrigation practices, which Crivella has observed in his several trips to Israel. It has led to the renewal of agriculture and livestock raising there.