Ernesto Araújo, the most radical Foreign Minister in Brazil’s history, is out of work. He resigned on Monday afternoon in what has the potential to be a paradigm shift in Jair Bolsonaro’s government.
Since taking office along with the president, Mr. Araújo has been one of Mr. Bolsonaro’s most loyal cabinet ministers. His two years and change as Foreign Minister represented a complete digression to Brazil’s diplomatic history, as Mr. Araújo turned his back on long-held principles such as defending human rights, pushing for a more central and independent role for Brazil on the global stage, and not interfering in the internal affairs of allied nations.
Formally, Mr. Araújo resigned, but the reality is he was pushed out of office after mounting pressure from lawmakers — who have wanted his head on a spike for months. His situation became untenable last week, after one of the government’s top foreign policy advisors made a white supremacist gesture during a Senate hearing. To make matters even worse, Mr. Araújo accused senators of acting as lobbyists for Chinese interests.
Always a marginal figure in what is already an unspectacular cabinet, the anti-globalist and Sinophobic Foreign Minister was never welcomed by the political establishment. His anti-China views and total alignment with the Donald Trump White House were seen as liabilities by nearly all of the factions making up Jair Bolsonaro’s patchwork government.
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