In just over two years as head of Itamaraty, Ernesto Araújo has made opposition to “globalism” one of his hallmarks. In the first weeks after his departure, on March 29, he added another term to his list of targets: “magical multilateralism”.
“Magical multilateralism is where you say ‘multilateralism’ and that’s it. I haven’t played this game, ”he wrote on his Twitter account, which recently surpassed 800,000 subscribers. It is already more popular than that of former government colleagues like Onyx Lorenzoni (796 thousand), Marcos Pontes (494 thousand) and Ricardo Salles (461 thousand).
The post received several praise from supporters, with many voicing their disagreement with Ernesto’s departure, showing his growing popularity within the Conservative base. Since his return to the Itamaraty Plain, after a long process of internal attrition with public opinion, Ernesto has shown signs that he has no intention of wasting the political capital he has acquired in the Bolonarian right.
He began using Twitter to defend himself against accusations that he neglected to buy vaccines against Covid-19, the main factor that led to his downfall. “There has never been a vaccine crisis. My foreign policy has never caused vaccination problems. What happened was the setting up of a false narrative, as part of the attempt to extinguish the transformative and popular flame of the government and to remove the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from this project, ”he said. he wrote on April 17.
Ernesto also took over his personal blog, the “Metapolítica”, in which he wrote articles that locked him up in 2018, to be elected chancellor. On April 10, he published a long defense of his administration.
Last Monday (19) he was announced as one of the participants in a superlive in honor of writer Olavo de Carvalho, guru of Bolonarianism and the so-called “new right”.
Members of the cream of Olavism participated, such as the owner of the channel Tuesday Free, Allan dos Santos, the Catholic YouTuber Bernardo Kuster and the former Minister of Education Abraham Weintraub. Ernesto, however, ended up canceling his presence at the last minute, due, he says, to an unforeseen event.
“Ernesto is considered a loyal soldier. He did the right thing, worked on the president’s agenda and, when he needed to be sacrificed, he left quietly, ”says Silvio Grimaldo, executive director of the conservative newspaper Brasil Sem Medo and in charge of direct the Olavists direct.
The circumstances of the former minister’s fall, says Grimaldo, made him a martyr among conservatives.
“He’s very expensive, seen as a guy with good ideas and a surprise. No one knew Ernesto, he introduced himself and did the foreign policy that everyone expected. He is a purebred conservative.
Another participant of the live, the entrepreneur and digital influencer Leandro Ruschel says that “the conservative base understands that Ernesto is a guy who was true to his principles and ended up falling because of it”. “Unfortunately, he ended up being the target of the heavyweight of the world left, which does not tolerate the possibility of Brazil being a sovereign nation, leading a conservative movement,” says Ruschel.
Among the scholarship holders on social media, Ernesto’s name as a possible name in next year’s election has come to be mentioned, in an articulation that would also involve candidates like those of ministers Damares Alves (Rights of the ‘Male), Ricardo Salles (Environment) and Tarcísio de Freitas (Infrastructure), in addition to the former holder of education Abraham Weintraub.
The former vice-president of the Chamber’s External Relations Committee, Federal Deputy Luiz Philippe de Orléans et Bragança (PSL-SP) is passionate about the idea. “We need good senators. I would love for him to run as a senator, to guide the impeachment of STF ministers [Supremo Tribunal Federal]. Brazil would gain a lot from someone who has courage, like Ernesto, ”he said.
For the deputy, the former chancellor was the target of a plot led by the PSDB. “A plot set up by Aécio [Neves, presidente da Comissão de Relações Exteriores da Câmara] and the Senate. It was a false articulation with the centão, and people recognize it, ”he says.
Ruschel and Grimaldo, meanwhile, consider the former chancellor to be more useful outside of party politics. The digital influencer sees Ernesto as a profile of an educator, who, he says, “might help the movement more” if he were to devote himself to such a function. For Grimaldo, the former minister is in a position to help build a solid conservative base in the country. “Today, the conservative movement is an electoral force, but it is not a political force. He manages to elect candidates, but he cannot put pressure on his agenda. Ernesto, for the projection that he had, for the clarity of his ideas, has the capacity to take several conservative forces in Brazil and to be articulated under a single umbrella, ”he said.
Wanted by Folha to talk about his conservative activism and a possible candidacy, the former minister did not respond to the interview request. Ernesto is on vacation until April 30, stationed at the Secretariat for Administrative Management of Itamaraty, a bureaucratic post and considered transitional, until the government finds him a suitable place abroad.
An alternative is the post of Brazilian representative to the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), the club of rich countries, in Paris, a position that does not need confirmation by the Senate, a chamber in which the he former minister brings together various enemies.
By law, Ernesto will have to quit his career if he runs for elected office.
Sought after, the Itamaraty opinion claimed that Ernesto’s political protests follow what determines Law 11.440 / 06, known as the Legal Regime for Foreign Service Officials. In Article 27, the rule states that public demonstrations by officials of the ministry on foreign policy must have “the consent of the competent authority”.
However, the Foreign Ministry also says the rule must be followed “in the light of the constitutional precepts of free expression of thought.” In other words, Ernesto will be able to continue to tweet, blog, and participate in lives freely, at least for now.