Threatened to lose his post, Minister Ernesto Araújo launched this Thursday (25) an operation to try to stay at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the advisers of President Jair Bolsonaro (without a party) already consider the resignation of the Chancellor as inevitable .
According to interlocutors, Bolsonaro understood that it will be difficult to keep Ernesto on the Esplanade – although he only wants to make the change after finding a replacement.
The assistants began to discuss the names for the exchange.
One of those cited is the Brazilian ambassador in Paris, Luís Fernando Serra, who has an important role in refuting the criticisms of the French press against the Bolsonaro government.
The name of senator and ex-president Fernando Collor (PROS-AL) has also been released, but Bolsonaro’s allies believe that in this case the president would lose his influence over the chancellery.
The same hurdle is reported on behalf of former President Michel Temer (MDB), who entered the betting exchange on previous occasions.
According to the auxiliaries, Ernesto’s situation was untenable after the formation of a broad coalition to attack him from the government, led by the National Congress and formed by the military, leaders of agribusiness, parliamentarians from the center and great businessmen.
The chancellor’s participation in a Senate session on Wednesday (24), during which several parliamentarians publicly requested his resignation, was understood by Planalto as the message that there is no longer any dialogue between the legislator and the minister. .
Also on Wednesday, Ernesto was indicted by House Speaker Arthur Lira (PP-AL) for a change of course in Brazilian diplomacy.
Ernesto, however, still has the support of MP Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP), son of the president who works to maintain his influence in Itamaraty.
Aware of the frying, the Chancellor requested a meeting with Lira this morning. At the House Presidency’s official residence in Brasília, he attempted to justify himself and presented data to claim that he had not remained silent during the pandemic crisis.
At the meeting, the minister reported on what has been done so far by the Itamaraty in the fight against Covid-19, while Lira, according to the deputy’s deputies, reinforced the accusation made on Wednesday: better diplomacy is needed, with more dialogue with countries like the United States and China.
In a meeting called by Jair Bolsonaro at the Alvorada Palace with the highest legislatures and the judiciary, the mayor and governors criticized the Chancellor’s role in the health crisis. The heads of state, for example, demanded from the WHO (World Health Organization) the monopoly of laboratories in the production of vaccines.
According to her relatives, Lira has not changed her mind and continues to believe that the Chancellor should resign or be fired.
Ernesto’s team also tried to contact parliamentarians to offer them explanations on how to manage the health crisis, without further results.
Lira and Pacheco assumed the articulation of the overthrow of Ernesto after meeting with top businessmen in São Paulo on March 22.
Those present complained that the Foreign Ministry had failed to negotiate vaccines, supplies and medicine, which contributed to the scenario of calamity facing the country today.
Brazil had subsequent records of Covid-19 deaths – on Wednesday the country surpassed the 300,000 Covid-19 death mark, just two and a half months after crossing the 200,000 death line.
Meanwhile, the pace of vaccination is insufficient to cope with the most difficult months of the epidemic.
It is no coincidence that criticism of Ernesto’s alleged omission from vaccine negotiations occupied much of the Senate session in which the Chancellor was attacked by parliamentarians.
The picture became even more complicated for Ernesto with the episode involving the presidency’s special adviser for international affairs, Filipe Martins.
Representative of Ernesto’s ideological wing and ally, Martins was spotted by Senate cameras gesturing with his hands behind House President Rodrigo Pacheco.
The senators present considered this act obscene. Additionally, the way Martins performed the gesture – joining thumb to index finger and keeping the other fingers outstretched – is associated with white supremacist movements.
The assistant denies any racial overtones and says he was fixing his setback.
The scene was deemed unacceptable by Pacheco, who demanded Martins’ resignation. Bolsonaro is to serve him and relocate Martins to a consulting firm at the Esplanada.
“We cannot have any prejudgments about the fact, but, really, seeing the images, we identified a gesture that was totally inappropriate for the environment of the Senate,” said Pacheco.
“We want here, once again, to repudiate all acts that involve racism or discrimination of any kind, repudiate any kind of obscene act too, if that was the connotation, in the Senate or outside. . And the Senate is no joke. The Senate is a place of work, ”said Pacheco.