Marco Aurélio Garcia is a Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

, and a member of the Workers' Party

Workers' Party (Brazil)

The Workers' Party is a democratic socialist political party in Brazil. Launched in 1980, it is recognized as one of the largest and most important left-wing movements of Latin America. It governs at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties since January 1, 2003...

 (Partido dos Trabalhadores). He is a former Professor of Latin American History at UNICAMP University. He served as interim party president from 6 October 2006 to 2 January 2007. Ricardo Berzoini

Ricardo Berzoini

Ricardo Berzoini was the President of the Workers' Party of Brazil from 2005 to 2010. He has served as minister for social security.-References:...

 preceded and succeeded Garcia as party president. In 2007, he became a special foreign policy adviser to the president.

Controversies

Marco Aurelio Garcia gained notoriety in 2007 when caught making an obscene gesture while watching a newscast on television. The scene was captured by a Rede Globo

Rede Globo

Rede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...

 news crew, through the window of his office in the Presidential Palace

Palácio do Planalto

The Palácio do Planalto is the official workplace of the President of Brazil. It is located at the Praça dos Três Poderes in Brasília, Brazil. As the seat of government, the term Planalto is often used as a metonym for the executive branch of the government.The main working office of the President...

, at the very moment a newscast reported the finding of a possible technical defect in the Airbus A320

Airbus A320

The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...

 involved in the accident of TAM Airlines Flight 3054

TAM Airlines Flight 3054

TAM Airlines Flight 3054 was an Airbus A320 airliner, registration PR-MBK, operating as a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Porto Alegre and São Paulo, Brazil, which crashed upon landing during rain in São Paulo on July 17, 2007...

. At the time, the press interpreted the gesture as a celebration of news that could have exculpated the federal government in the accident that killed 200 people.

In 2011, Garcia was accused of undermining democracy. US cables released by Wikileaks quoted Garcia making comments about former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide. The cable reported that Garcia promised the US "continued Brazilian resolve to keep Aristide from returning to the country or exerting political influence." According to the cable, Garcia said that Aristide, who was elected twice by large majorities, "does not fit in with a democratic political future in Haiti."