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BRASILIA – The Minister of Tourism, Marcelo Álvaro Antônio, was dismissed by President Jair Bolsonaro in the early hours of the afternoon of this Wednesday. Álvaro Antônio was informed of the decision at a meeting shortly after 2:00 p.m., at the Planalto Palace, which is not on the president’s agenda. Minutes after the departure of Álvaro Antônio, the president of the Brazilian Agency for International Tourism Promotion (Embratur), Gilson Machado, met with Bolsonaro and agreed to take office permanently, according to GLOBO.
Analyze: The Minister of Tourism leaves late and for a lesser reason
Machado’s longtime ally, Machado was asked if he would assume the ministry when he reached the Plateau, but he limited himself to nodding his index finger. He left the palace without speaking to the press, around 3:45 p.m. The information that the head of Tourism would be fired today was anticipated by GLOBO columnist Lauro Jardim.
This is the first exchange in Tourism since the beginning of the Bolsonaro government. Marcelo Álvaro Antônio, a federal deputy licensed by the PSL of Minas Gerais, has been an ally of the president since the days of the Chamber of Deputies. He was with the then presidential candidate on the day of the knife attack on Bolsonaro in a campaign event in Juiz de Fora (MG).
The resignation came a day after the Minister of Tourism used a WhatsApp group that brings together all the ministers of the federal government to attack the head of the Ministry of Government, Luiz Eduardo Ramos, responsible for the political articulation of the Planalto. The fight was confirmed to GLOBO by three sources, after being revealed by the column Radar, of the magazine “Veja”. Read the entire message sent by Álvaro Antônio.
read: Álvaro Antônio is the eleventh minister to leave the Bolsonaro government; see the list
According to a government official who read the messages, Álvaro Antônio accused Ramos of conspiring to remove him from office with Bolsonaro. In the words of another Planalto source, he “lowered the stick” against the minister, irritated that Ramos was negotiating positions with the center of Congress, including the Ministry of Tourism itself.
President Bolsonaro, in turn, would have been irritated to see the exposure of another fight between members of the government. The Minister of Tourism then returned to the group to recant with Ramos and put warm cloths in the discussion, admitting that he had exceeded.
See: Tourism Minister accuses Ramos of conspiring to remove him from office in a group of ministers
More than a year ago, in October 2019, Álvaro Antônio was charged by the Federal Police and denounced by the Electoral Justice Prosecutor of Minas Gerais for crimes related to the presentation of candidacies for the PSL in the 2018 elections.
According to the agency, as president of the state party, Álvaro Antônio participated in the registration of orange candidates of women who, in fact, did not dedicate themselves to the dispute, to allow the diversion of funds from the electoral fund. So far, the Minas Electoral Tribunal has not decided whether he would become a defendant.
Last week, GLOBO had already anticipated that Bolsonaro planned to open spaces in the ministries. A reform of the Esplanade was proposed in the middle of the negotiations for the presidential elections of the Congress. The departure already scheduled by the Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Jorge Oliveira, appointed to fill a vacancy in the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) on December 31, is on the radar of the center party.
Congress: Vote that prohibited the reelection of Maia and Alcolumbre expanded the Supreme Court
Exchange of ministers
This was the fifteenth change in the first level of Bolsonaro’s government, which today has 23 ministries, one more than at the beginning of the legislature. Only 11 portfolios have remained unchanged since the president’s inauguration.
Gustavo Bebianno – Floriano Peixoto (General Secretariat of the Presidency)
Ricardo Vélez – Abraham Weintraub (Education)
Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz – Luiz Eduardo Ramos (Government Secretariat)
Floriano Peixoto – Jorge Oliveira (General Secretariat of the Presidency)
Gustavo Canuto – Rogério Marinho (Regional Development)
Onyx Lorenzoni – Braga Netto (Civil House)
Osmar Terra – Onyx Lorenzoni (Citizenship)
Luiz Henrique Mandetta – Nelson Teich (Health)
Sergio Moro – André Mendonça (Justice and Public Security)
André Mendonça – José Levi (Attorney General of the Union)
Nelson Teich – Eduardo Pazuello (Health)
Abraham Weintraub – Carlos Decotelli * (Education)
Carlos Decotelli – Milton Ribeiro (Education)
Fábio Faria ** (Communications)
Marcelo Álvaro Antônio – Indefinite (Tourism)
* He was appointed, but did not take office.
** Portfolio assumed separately from the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications, commanded by Marcos Pontes
