Carlos Alberto Oliveira dos Santos (20 December 1941 – 4 February 2018), also known as Caó, was a Brazilian lawyer, journalist, and politician.
A Black Brazilian, he was most well known for his anti-racism activism, being the author of the Lei Caó, which codified and defined racism as a crime in Brazil.
[1][2] Caó was an activist with the Black movement in Brazil and was a member of the Democratic Labour Party (PDT).
[3] He was an advisor to the State Council of Black Rights of Rio de Janeiro (Cedine) and a member of the Brazilian Press Association (ABI).
[5] During this time, he also became engaged in the nationalist campaign O petróleo é nosso, which became a catalyst for the creation of Petrobras.
[5] In this period, Caó was one of the founders of the Association of Journalists Specializing in Economics and Finance (Ajef), created in 1974, and with which he was elected president in 1975.
[5] A member of the PDT at the invitation of its then-president Leonel Brizola, Caó was elected as a federal deputy from the state of Rio de Janeiro in 1982.
[4] As secretary, he led the implementation of the Cada Família, Um Lote program, created to regulate favelas and cladestine living situations.