All White Male Cabinet
Senate-imposed president Michel Temer unveiled his cabinet Thursday and his choices are drawing criticism for failing to represent Brazil's diversity.
Temer's cabinet has no women, no Black ministers, no one who identifies as gay, lesbian, or trangender, nor anyone representing social movements or any other of Brazil's minority groups.
Even Senator Cristovam Buarque, who voted in favor of impeachment, expressed surprise at Temer's choices for his cabinet, posting on his Twitter account: "Seems strange to me a cabinet without women, without representatives from minority groups or social movements."
Temer's cabinet, while all men and all white, also includes seven ministers who are under investigation for their alleged role in the Petrobras corruption scandal.
Key Ministries Eliminated
Temer reduced the size of the cabinet to only 22 ministries, ostensibly in the name of austrity. However, his choice of what ministries to cut or to fold into other ministries is telling of the interim president's right-wing priorities.
- The Ministry of Culture has been eliminated
- The Ministry of Agrarian Development has been eliminated
- The Ministry of Science and Technology has been eliminated (it is now part of a much larger dysfunctional ministry, together with telecommunications)
- The Ministry of Women has been eliminated
- The Ministry of Racial Equality has been eliminated
- The Ministry of Human Rights has been eliminated
Questionable Choices for Ministers
The new minister of justice, Alexandre de Moraes, is a person well-known to social movements in the state of Sao Paulo. He previously served as secretary for security for the right-wing government of the state and in that capacity oversaw several brutal crackdowns on social protest, including an incident on Jan. 13, 2016, that was widely condemned for its excessive use of police force.
Furthermore, O Estado de S. Paulo said de Moraes served as a lawyer for Transcooper, a company accused of running a money laundering operation on behalf of PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital), the largest criminal organization in Brazil.
Other ministries are now being led by right-wing politicians such as Jose Sarney, who lost the presidential election to Rousseff in 2010.
The seven ministers facing corruption allegations also now enjoy a form of immunity, as only the Supreme Court can try them if they are sitting government ministers. When Rousseff attempted to appoint her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to the post of cabinet chief, she was accused of trying to shelter him from criminal charges and he was ultimately not allowed to assume the post.
Fast Facts
- All Ministries are now in hands of the right, who lost in the 2014 elections to Dilma Rousseff.
- Federal Judge Sergio Moro, who has been leading the investigation into the Petrobras scandal has called for peace.
- Monthly payments for individuals in the low income housing program "Minha casa, minha vida" (My home, my life) will increase 237 percent by July. Since the program was launched in March 2009, more than 2.6 million homes were handed over to low income families through the program.
is I can see that happening in the US. Those guys? They are the power behind the throne. Its just that they are out in the open now. We have the same power structure here, hidden but still there. I see the supposed liberalization of the government in the US as 'face' that pretends to offer something to everyone but when the air clears after the hoopla whenever a new legislation is enacted the fine print takes away what the bold italics claim to represent. But our legislators 'fought hard' ! Phooie!
The public has to contend with media campaign after media campaign of red herrings that fill our daily news while genuine government issues are resolved without the involvement of the incompetent uninformed public. We have foisted upon us endless undesired overwhelming supposed fairness issues that are like tv serials that run for years, one fairness issue being replaced by another fairness issue.
I suspect this will all end the same as Brazil's democratic experiment. Just got to eliminate social security which I predict will see its demise in the Great American Stipend which will replace the many social programs for the Learning Disabled programs now ending, the foster care children whose extension to 21 is ending, Aid to Dependent Children and Child Support.
How it will end is like Brazil. Program after program for the equality and fairness issue will have saturated the public whose struggle to find genuine employment at renumeration which allows living costs to be covered is almost impossible.