Education Minister Milton Ribeiro was dismissed from his post this Monday (28) to try to reduce the controversies within the government of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). He wrote a letter of resignation, delivered to the president this afternoon at Palácio do Planalto, and the dismissal was published in an extra edition of the Official Gazette. Ribeiro became the target of great pressure after an informal scheme to obtain funds involving two pastors without public office was revealed.
This included the payment of bribes —Bolsonaro repeats that in his government there are no cases of corruption. City government admitted that this kind of MEC business desk operated by pastors Gilmar Santos and Arilton Moura, linked to Bolsonaro. It prioritized the release of funds to officials close to them and to city halls indicated by the center, a political bloc supporting the government.
At the beginning of the letter, Milton Ribeiro writes that "since the 21st of March my life has undergone a great transformation." It was on this day that Folha revealed an audio in which the minister himself says he prioritizes friends of Pastor Gilmar Santos at the request of Bolsonaro and suggests that there is still a counterpart to the one supposedly aimed at building churches.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon