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Health Ministry increasingly occupied by military officers

As The Brazilian Report has already explained, the influence of the Armed Forces in the Brazilian government has been steadily increasing under President Jair Bolsonaro. Indeed, more officers are serving as cabinet ministers than during Brazil’s military dictatorship. Since the exit of yet another Health Minister last week, the Health Ministry is the latest to fall under the sway of the military after 21 posts were awarded to members of the Armed Forces. 

These include appointments to both management and specialized posts — including several officers with no previous experience in healthcare. Previous appointments were primarily concentrated in the logistics department — responsible for purchasing drugs and medical inputs. However, new names include First-Lieutenant Laura Tiriba Appi and Marcelo Sampaio Pereira to head the Primary Care Secretariat and Special Care Secretariat respectively.

Since Nelson Teich’s exit from the Health Ministry, 13 new military appointments have been announced.

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Benjamin Fogel

Benjamin Fogel is a Ph.D. candidate in Latin American History at New York University and a Contributing Editor to Jacobin Magazine.

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