The legacy of Ricardo Salles as Brazil’s Environment Minister

Ricardo Salles was the last member of Jair Bolsonaro’s original 22-name cabinet to be announced. Over the course of most of the 2018 presidential election, Mr. Bolsonaro promised to place the Environment Ministry under the umbrella of the Agriculture Ministry — a move set to weaken environmental agencies and end what the far-right leader calls “an industry created to penalize hard-working rural producers.” After a massive backlash, Mr. Bolsonaro gave up on the idea in the months before taking office.

However, naming Mr. Salles for the Environment portfolio proved to be the next best thing.

As head of the department, he proved himself to be in total alignment with the president’s laissez-faire approach to the environment. Nothing sums up his demeanor in office better than his remarks during an April 2020 cabinet meeting. Mr. Salles argued that the government should take advantage of the pandemic to “run the cattle herd” — that is, to slash environmental regulations while the press’ attention was elsewhere.

And run the herd he did. Researchers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro showed that Mr. Salles enacted 57 legislative measures weakening conservation laws and favoring agricultural interests.

By the end of his stint in office, however, the Federal Police was holding Mr. Salles’ proximity to rural producers and timber loggers under suspicion. In April, the Feds issued accusations against the Environment Minister for obstruction of justice, criminal association, and influence peddling.

Investigators say the now ex-minister hindered anti-deforestation operations and “directly sponsored the private and illegitimate interests of loggers under investigation.” The Environment Minister was, moreover, held to be “the state branch of a criminal organization […] which aims at obtaining any sort of advantage.”

Two months later, a new investigation was launched, with search and seizure operations carried out at addresses linked to Ricardo Salles. Marshals have circumstantial evidence that he was involved in an illegal timber export ring.

Though counterintuitive, these investigations actually reinforced Mr. Salles position in the cabinet. Mr. Bolsonaro continued to congratulate his work, while the only ones punished were the two police chiefs who had targeted Mr. Salles. “Dear Ricardo Salles, you are part of history. The marriage between the Environment and Agriculture Ministries was nearly perfect,” said Mr. Bolsonaro, on Tuesday.

In the end, though, remaining in the cabinet would likely have proved detrimental to Mr. Salles. Members of the...