Brazil’s Bolsonaro overhauls cabinet as coronavirus pressure mounts

The far-right leader changed six cabinet members including the foreign minister as he faced rising pressure over a deadly surge of Covid-19

Brazil is struggling to deal with an explosion of infections, blamed partly on a local variant that is believed to be more contagious

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:54am, 30 Mar 2021Updated: 10:53am, 30 Mar 2021

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro overhauled his government on Monday, changing six cabinet members including the foreign, defence and justice ministers, as the far-right leader faced mounting pressure over a deadly surge of Covid-19.

Bolsonaro, who comes up for re-election in October 2022, has drawn backlash with his handling of the pandemic in hard-hit Brazil, where the average daily death toll has nearly quadrupled since the start of the year to more than 2,600, pushing hospitals to breaking point.

The shake-up comes the week after Bolsonaro replaced former health minister Eduardo Pazuello, an army general with no medical experience, with cardiologist Marcelo Queiroga, his fourth health minister of the pandemic.

While speculation had been swirling that Bolsonaro was about to fire foreign minister Ernesto Araujo, who faced criticism for the government’s problems securing more Covid-19 vaccines, many of the other changes came as a surprise.

The president named army General Luiz Eduardo Ramos as his new chief of staff, career diplomat Carlos Franca as his new foreign minister, General Walter Souza Braga Netto – the outgoing chief of staff – as defence minister, and police commander Anderson Torres as justice minister.