Minister Ernesto Araújo (Foreign Affairs) posted messages in his social networks on Sunday (28) which, according to his allies, aim to make public what he thinks is behind the centão offensive to bring it down.
The minister revealed on Twitter a conversation he had with Senator Kátia Abreu (PP-TO). Behind the scenes, Araújo connects the Chinese lobby for 5G technology to the Congress Dome movement. The posts speak to the subject.
“On 4/3, I received Senator Kátia Abreu for lunch at the MRE. Courteous conversation. Little or nothing talked about vaccines. At the end, at the table, she said: ‘Minister, if you do a gesture regarding 5G, you will be the king of the Senate. I made no gesture, “Araújo wrote on Sunday.
Then the minister added: “I ignored the suggestion even because the topic of 5G depends on the Ministry of Communications and the President of the Republic, who is responsible for the final decision in the matter.”
Marked by ideological stakes, the minister’s management is severely criticized by businessmen and politicians from the left, the center and the right.
Rodrigo Pacheco (DEM-MG), president of the Senate, said last week, in public and in closed-door meetings with President Jair Bolsonaro (non-party), that he viewed Brazil’s foreign policy as “flawed” .
“We must correct it, we must improve relations with other countries, including China, because it is Brazil’s main trading partner,” said the senator.
Mayor Arthur Lira (PP-AL) has resigned as chancellor in Bolsonaro for the same reasons.
In an interview with the Panel of Experts, PP president Senator Ciro Nogueira (PI), one of the main parties in the centão, also said that Araújo had made little contribution to the pandemic.
On another front, this Saturday (27), 300 diplomats published a letter in which they accuse foreign policy of seriously damaging the image of Brazil.
Relatives of Araújo say Brazil has received a large amount of inputs and vaccines from China and that the concern of parliamentarians who asked Bolsonaro to step down as chancellor would not be with the health of Brazilians, but in the Chinese Huawei’s interest. .
The attitude of the Minister of Foreign Affairs tends to increase the offensive against him. Government officials believe that Araújo made a mistake and, with the publication, will elicit an even stronger reaction from the Senate in favor of his resignation.
Folha approached Senator Katia Abreu to comment on the Chancellor’s messages, but she did not respond until the publication of this report.
The 5G auction is scheduled to take place in June this year. In 2020, in line with what was advocated by former US President Donald Trump, the Brazilian Chancellor recommended a complete ban on Huawei. The position contradicted and surprised the technicians in his portfolio. We are a family business.
At the beginning of March, the Minister of Communications, Fábio Faria, declared that there would be a transition phase during which 5G telephony will operate via a hybrid system made up of new networks, exclusively for the fifth generation, and 4G networks and 3G.
According to the minister, this system will operate over a period of six years, the maximum period for the winners of the event to have installed the entire 5G infrastructure.
The speech took place during a meeting of the 5G working group of the Chamber of Deputies. On the occasion, the deputy Bia Kicis (PSL-DF), ally of the Bolsonaro government, insisted that the minister clarify whether the Chinese Huawei, giant of the telephone network equipment, could participate in the litigation for the construction of the private network of the government.
This solution was the means found by the minister to convince Bolsonaro not to stop Huawei from other operator networks, which could even compromise the holding of the auction.
This Saturday (27), a group of more than 300 diplomats published a public letter accusing the current foreign policy of “seriously damaging international relations and the image of Brazil” and demanding the departure of Ernesto Araújo from the head of the ministry. external relations.
“We hope, with these reflections, to offer more elements so that the necessary and urgent changes in the conduct of foreign policy obtain greater support in society,” said the letter, obtained by Folha. “The Covid-19 crisis has revealed that mistakes in foreign policy cause concrete damage to the population.”
Ministers believe that Araújo’s dismissal has become virtually irreparable.
Government officials say, however, that the president will not fire the minister now so as not to give the impression that it was the center that managed to get the MP out.
Meanwhile, the Planalto Palace is already studying the names and looking for alternatives to Araújo.
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