Lafayette Rodrigues Pereira (28 March 1834 – 29 January 1917), was a Brazilian landowner, lawyer, journalist, diplomat and politician.

Later, he claimed that he had not personally signed the manifesto, having only attended an initial meeting making plans to found the Republican Club.

[3] On 6 June 1884, the Lafayette cabinet was replaced by a new one led by Manuel Pinto de Sousa Dantas.

Lafayette then began to serve Brazil in other roles: as a senator, state councilor, diplomat and, above all, a jurist and writer.

On 30 May 1885 Emperor Pedro II appointed him minister on a special mission to Chile, to serve as an arbitrator in the Italian, English and French claims arising from the War of the Pacific.

In 1889, he was once again accredited as a minister on a special mission, together with Amaral Valente and Salvador de Mendonça, in the Brazilian delegation to the First International Conference of American States.

He left this post on November 17, 1889, when he declined the renewal of his powers by the Provisional Government of the newly proclaimed Republic.

His ashes were laid to rest next to the remains of his parents in the parish church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, Barão de Queluz square, in the center of Conselheiro Lafaiete, Minas Gerais.