Jacob spent his days in stoic near-paralysis in a nursing home close to their old house, since sold to a happy (though you never knew) Sri Lankan family.
Acting Senate president Emilio Colombo told his chamber that stalemate "could bring us to institutional paralysis, with dramatic consequences on... the great social and economic problems that torment us".
This week the billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates will deliver the annual BBC Richard Dimbleby Lecture in which he will spell out his commitment to ridding the world of this dread infectious disease which can cause paralysis and even death within hours.
In Lula's first term, his government mishandled a legislature composed largely of politically footloose mercenaries, which provoked corruption and legislative paralysis.