BRASILIA – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro overhauled his government yesterday, changing six cabinet members including the foreign, defense and justice ministers, the administration said in a statement.
The far-right leader, who is gearing up to run for reelection in October 2022, is facing mounting pressure from a deadly surge of Covid-19 in already hard-hit Brazil, where the average weekly death toll has nearly quadrupled since the start of the year, pushing hospitals to breaking point.
The shake-up comes the week after Bolsonaro replaced former Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello, an army general, with cardiologist Marcelo Queiroga, his fourth health minister of the pandemic.
While speculation had been swirling that Bolsonaro was about to fire Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo, who faced criticism for the government’s problems securing more Covid-19 vaccines, many of the other changes came as a surprise.
The president named army General Luiz Eduardo Ramos as his new chief of staff, career diplomat Carlos Franca as his new foreign minister, General Walter Souza Braga Netto – the outgoing chief of staff – as defense minister, and police commander Anderson Torres as justice minister.
He also appointed a new attorney general and government secretary.
“The nominations will be published in the government gazette,” the communications ministry said in a statement. – AFP, March 30, 2021
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