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The Lebanese patriarch of Rio
Mr. Zouain has
lived in Brazil for 62 years and has followed our
history.
He has turned 90
years old with a lot of festivity. Mr. Zouain, the patriarch of the
Lebanese colony in Rio, has lived in Brazil since 1911 when he had
to leave his country because he disapproved the way the “Bacha”*
handled the journalists.
Mr. Zouain was a
lawyer and secretary of the Governor of Keserwan province. When his
cousin, Deputy (member of parliament) Georges Beik Zouain, was
arrested for protesting against an entrance restriction of a
journalist to the “Bacha” palace. He showed solidarism to his
relative,(Deputy Georges Beik Zouain) and became his lawyer, then he
quits the positions he maintained with the Governor.
The “Bacha” tried
to change his decision by nominating him Magistrate of Courthouse,
but Mr. Zouain refused and emphasized his point of view. His
detention was then declared. This made him to escape to Egypt. From
there, he came to Brazil, 62 years ago. Mr. Zouain established a
newspaper as soon as he arrived in Rio, the “Al- Muntad”
((Aerostat)) that was published in Arabic and functioned at {318,
Senior dos Passos Street}. He invested all his savings in this
business, beginning to criticize the despotic government and
defending his country independence (Lebanon was under Turkish
domination until 1924 and then turned into France
control).
The newspaper was a
way to express his ideas, but despite of being a personal
gratification, it was not a profitable enterprise. One year later,
Mr. Zouain-Zouain moved to Colatina, Espirito Santo, where he built
the “Bazar do Povo” ( People’s Bazar), which became, later, the
leading shop store in town.
He lived and
coexisted with several events of our history. He says that he
perfectly remember the period he arrived in Rio, when the Republic
President was Marechal Hermes da Fonseca. He was impressed at this
time, with the Bar?o do Rio Branco funeral which had a great
accompaniment, demonstrating our people solidarity. Nowadays, after
62 years in Brazil, Mr. Zouain is considered a patriarch of Lebanese
community of Rio due to his characteristics and his
achievements. |