Cristovam Ricardo Cavalcanti Buarque (Portuguese pronunciation: [kɾisˈtɔvɐ̃w buˈaʁki]; born February 20, 1944) is a Brazilian university professor and member of Cidadania.

[1] At that time he engaged in student politics becoming a militant of the Ação Popular, a group of the Leftist Progressive Church.

He initiated the NGO Mission Child, which sponsors an income transfer program for thousands of families and is funded by private enterprises.

He is a staunch defender of the "revolution… through education", a line of thought touted by Brazilian intellectuals like Anísio Teixeira, Darcy Ribeiro, and Paulo Freire.

According to him, in modern capitalism, the increasing substitution of human labor by automated machines tends to make employed workers a privileged caste, while a new layer of "excluded" people—those who have no jobs, insurance, or health care—is formed.

[citation needed] His term as Governor of the Federal District was marked by strong tensions in the Workers' Party (PT), particularly in its unionist base.

[citation needed] The project Bolsa Escola, implemented in the Federal District during his term, now operates in Brazil and other countries.

[citation needed] Despite gaining a 58% approval rating by the Datafolha institute, Buarque was narrowly defeated by Joaquim Roriz (PMDB) in the 1998 election.

[3] After considering staying in the Senate as an independent, he decided to enter the Democratic Labour Party (PDT) in 1989, with which he had longstanding connections.