National Congress of Brazil

The polemic Brazilian Foreign Policy Ministry Ernesto Araújo presented his resignation Monday to the President Jair Bolsonaro.

In the Brazilian Congress, the assessment is that the minister's performance isolated Brazil in the international scenario and hindered the obtaining of vaccine doses against Covid-19.

Mr. Araújo adopted in his administration the same principles as the foreign policy of former US President Donald Trump. This stance generated friction with important trading partners, such as China, the main destination for Brazilian exports, as well as the largest producer of vaccine supplies in the world.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has sanctioned a law making mask usage mandatory in public spaces, but he has vetoed their use in schools, churches and shops. Bolsonaro also vetoed articles requiring the free distribution of masks to the population and a campaign to explain why masks should be used.

Marcelo Freixo, a representative from Rio de Janeiro, tweeted: "He cancelled the mandatory use of masks in schools, shops and temples. And it also removed the duty of the public power to provide it to the poorest. We will overturn this criminal decision in Congress!"

The Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced Wednesday on his Facebook account he has decided to recreate the Ministry of Communications, that had been closed in 2016. In this new configuration, the ministry will control the government’s €24 million advertising budget and the distribution of radio and tv broadcast licenses.

The head of the new ministry will be Fabio Faria of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) party and also a son-in-law of the owner of Brazil’s third-largest television network.

Bolsonaro has approached the PSD as part of a strategy to build sufficient support in Congress to block any of two dozen pending requests to impeach him.