Brazil's foreign minister resigned due to pressure from supporters of Jair Bolsonaro

03/29/2021 13:01

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 03/29/2021 1:11 PM

The Brazilian Foreign Minister, Ernesto Araújo, resigned this Monday, after strong

pressure from political sectors related to President Jair Bolsonaro, 

who even accused him of obstructing access to anticovid vaccines.

The information was confirmed to the EFE agency by official sources, after a brief meeting that Araújo had with Bolsonaro, who summoned him to the government headquarters to discuss his situation, but has

not yet officially informed whether he will accept the resignation or not

. 

The fall of Araújo had been claimed by the majority of the Senate, which had announced an impeachment trial for his negligence in diplomacy regarding the policy of purchasing vaccines.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernest Araujo, sitting next to President Jair Bolsonaro.

Photo: AFP

Araújo is a third-line diplomat from the Itamaraty Palace who was elected as minister for being a defender of the alliance with the now former president of the United States, Donald Trump, and a declared anti-China militant.

Araújo had written that the

"savior of the West" was former President Trump.

He took office with the support of the presidential advisor and guru of the Brazilian extreme right, the astrologer Olavo de Carvalho, based in Virginia, United States.

Also weakened is Bolsonaro's special adviser for international affairs, Filipe Martins, accused of making a gesture by US white supremacists during an official broadcast by the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco.

Among the candidates to replace Araújo, the president's ideological ally, is the presidential advisor Flavio Rocha, secretary of Strategic Affairs and admiral who gained relevance in parallel diplomacy at the Itamaraty Palace, who

even visited President Alberto Fernández in January

in Buenos Aires .

Araújo had participated last Friday in the virtual summit of Mercosur alongside President Bolsonaro and the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes.

Source: agencies