Groundbreaking Brazilian politician David Miranda has died. The Brazilian politician’s passing came after facing health issues for almost a year.

The Advocate reported that his husband, journalist Glenn Greenwald, confirmed the news of Miranda’s death on Twitter Tuesday morning.

“It is with the most profound sadness that I announce the passing away of my husband @DavidMirandaRio. He would have turned 38 tomorrow. His death, early this morning, came after a 9-month battle in ICU. He died in full peace, surrounded by our children and family and friends,” he wrote on the platform.

Miranda was a tour de force in the Brazilian government, becoming the first openly gay city councilor in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and serving in Brazil’s Congress starting in 2019, CNN reported. However, Miranda withdrew his candidacy for reelection after six weeks last September due to his health issues. The former city councilman was in the ICU with a gastrointestinal infection.

His cause of death has not been released.

Many have shared their condolences on social media.

“Shocked to hear about David Miranda, who I was lucky to film in 2018/19. He was warm, charismatic, funny, with intense energy for his political work. He talked with such love and care about his family. A huge loss. My condolences to his family and friends,” documentary filmmaker Ali Maeve tweeted. 

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also shared a message on Twitter addressing Miranda’s passing, calling him “a young man with an extraordinary trajectory who left too soon,” on the platform.

Edward Snowden, who gave Greenwald information about U.S. intelligence programs as part of a severe data breach, also shared a tweet honoring Miranda.

“Heartbreaking news. Of everyone who had a hand in the 2013 revelations of global mass surveillance, my dear friend David Miranda was perhaps the most righteous—and pure,” he wrote. “I will never forget that when the UK broke its own laws to detain David as a “terrorist” for daring to aid an act of journalism—and threatened to throw him in a dungeon for the rest of his life—he never faltered. Instead, he dared them to do it. It was that courage that set him free. That courage that moved the story forward. That will forever serve as the example of a man at his best. I will miss you, David. Stay free.”

In his tweet, Greenwald also shared how much fatherhood meant to Miranda.

“But by far David’s biggest dream, what gave him the greatest pride and purpose, was being a father,” Greenwald wrote, announcing his husband’s death. “He was the most dedicated and loving parent. He taught me how to be a father. And our truly exceptional boys — with their own difficult start to live — is his greatest legacy,” he wrote.

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