José de Melo Carvalho Muniz Freire
José Melo de Carvalho Muniz Freire was a Brazilian politician. He was the 10th president of the state of Espirito Santo, from 1892 to 1896, and again from 1900 to 1904.
Freire was born in Vitória. He developed the railroads of the state, building the line from Vila Velha to Viana, and greatly incentivated the European immigration to that State. Espirito Santo got 15.586 immigrants from Germany, Italy and Balkans in the time of his term as governor. He was also a Senator of the state of Espirito Santo in the Brazilian Senate, and was the first Brazilian politician to defend the adoption of the secret vote. The secret vote was only to be adopted in Brazil after 1930.
