2023-09-08 22:40:37
The resignation of the former Olympic volleyball medalist Ana Moser from the Brazilian Ministry of Sports, in the midst of a cabinet change with which Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seeks to strengthen his base, unleashed a shower of criticism of the Brazilian president.
“It was a political decision, a shame for sport, an abandonment” of the sector, declared Moser, the second woman to leave the Executive of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after the resignation, in July, of the head of Tourism, Daniela Carneiro.
Moser was replaced by centrist deputy André Fufuca, who He had campaigned for the re-election of Jair Bolsonaro in 2022.
“I regret that Lula’s electoral promises, of a sport for the entire nation, had so few possibilities of being developed. We had little time to change the reality of sport,” added Moser, who after her resignation received the solidarity of the other ministers of the government.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made cabinet changes to bolster center-right support. Photo: BLOOMBERG
In addition to Fufuca in Sports, the Brazilian president appointed another deputy this Wednesday as Minister of Ports and Airports, and created the portfolio of Micro and Small Businesses, in a reform to strengthen his allied base.
In a statement, the Presidency of the Republic indicated that Lula met with the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, and with the deputies Silvio Costa Filho and André Fufuca, who were invited to assume the two ministries.
Costa Filho, of Republicans, and Fufuca, of the Progressive Party (PP), center-right formations, agreed to assume the portfolios of Ports and Airports and Sports, respectively.
Fufuca, a young 33-year-old doctor, is political godson and member of the same party as the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Artur Lirawho is also an ally of Celso Sabino, from the União party and appointed last July as Minister of Tourism.
Lula da Silva and the Vice President of Brazil, Geraldo Alckmin, at the military parade for Independence Day, this Thursday. Photo: AFP
Lira, who always identified more with the opposition led by former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), had opposed some legislative projects from the allied base that supports the progressive president.
The new Sports Minister takes over from former volleyball player Ana Moser, in a decision that was discussed in the media and drew criticism from social movements.
In the Ports and Airports portfolio, Costa Filho, a 41-year-old educator, will replace the former governor of São Paulo Márcio França, from the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), the formation of the vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, also from the center-right.
The two new ministers, moreover, are from the northeast of the country, a region where Lula has great political strength and has always won during the elections he has contested.
França, in turn, will command the new Ministry of Micro and Small Businesses, which Lula had already expressed his intention to create.
The official appointment and inauguration, according to the Presidency, will take place after the return to the country of Lula, who will participate this weekend in the G20 Summit in India.
Strengthen the foundation
With the reform, Lula maintains the PSB, a historic progressive party that was almost always on his side, within his cabinet and attracts the right-wing Republican parties and the PP to its base, which are currently divided in Congress.
Among the 513 deputies that make up the lower house, the PP has 49 legislators and the Republicans 41.
To make his support base more solid, Lula began his third term, on January 1, with 37 ministries, 14 more than his predecessor Bolsonaro and before this Wednesday’s reform he had already changed two names.
After the coup on January 8, when radical Bolsonaro members invaded and looted the headquarters of the three powers in Brasilia, Lula replaced General Marco Gonçalves Dias of the Institutional Security Cabinet (GSI).
Gonçalves Dias was replaced by the also general Marcos Antônio Amaro.
In July, the Minister of Tourism, Daniela Carneiro, involved in a corruption scandal, was replaced by Sabino.
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