Brazilian cabinet resigns
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from March 1992.
Brought to you by
Coimbra said the resignations took place so Collor, whose popularity is sagging following a series of political and personal scandals, could "feel free to name new ministers." Coimbra is Collor's brother-in-law.
Collor is a conservative civilian who in 1990 became Brazil's first popularly elected president in almost 30 years. The six Cabinet members who will remain are: Economy Minister Marcilio Marques Moreira, Health Minister Adib Jatene, Education Minister and acting Environment Secretary Jose Goldemberg, Army Minister Gen. Carlos Tinoco, Air Force Minister Brig. Socrates Monteiro and Navy Minister Adm. Mario Flores.
Gen. Antonio Luiz da Rocha Veneu, the military chief of staff, also will stay in his post.
The shakeup comes weeks before a U.N. Earth Summit slated for June in Rio. Goldemberg was named environment secretary just a week ago to coordinate the conference. He replaced Environment Secretary Jose Lutzenberger, who was fired. Leaving the Cabinet are Foreign Minister Francisco Rezek, Justice Minister Jarbas Passarinho, Infrastructure Minister Joao Santana, Labor and Social Security Minister Reinhold Stephanes, Social Action Minister Ricardo Fiuza and Agriculture Minister Antonio Cabrera.
Collor's term has been plagued by several scandals, including the resignation last year of Economy Minister Zelia Cardoso de Mello, no relation to the president. Cardoso was criticized for having an affair with a married then-Justice minister, Bernardo Cabral, who was fired. She is single.
In January, Collor fired Labour and Social Welfare Minister Antonio Rogerio Magri and Health Minister Alceni Guerra, after both were accused of financial irregularities.
Magri, whom Collor once proudly billed as Brazil's first "workingman minister" because of his labor union background, could face criminal charges because of a reported dlrs 30,000 bribe for giving a big construction firm a break on back social security taxes it owed. Collor even had to force his wife, Rosane, to give up her job as head of a governmentfunded charity, when there were charges that her family members profited from her position with the Brazilian Assistance League.
