President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday that he will nominate his son Eduardo Bolsonaro as Brazil's ambassador to the United States and that it was up to the current federal deputy to accept the position.
"For my part, I've made up my mind now, but it's not easy a decision like this to be in his place and relinquishing his mandate," he told reporters. "Despite being my son, he has to decide," he added.
Asked by Folha about the issue, Eduardo Bolsonaro said that there is still nothing defined.
"I will perform this mission that President Bolsonaro has given me in the best way," he said in the House. "There is nothing formal, nothing official."
"Yes, if President Jair Bolsonaro entrusts me with this mission, I would be willing to resign," Eduardo told reporters.
The president said that the son speaks fluent English, has good relations with the family of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and "would give the message perfectly."
"I do not want to decide for him his future," he said. "I was thinking: Imagine if you had in Brazil the son of President Mauricio Macri as the ambassador of Argentina? Obviously, the treatment would be different than a normal ambassador," said Jair Bolsonaro.
Eduardo turned 35 on Wednesday (10), the minimum age to be an ambassador. After the president's nomination, the Senate has yet to confirm the name.
The federal deputy did not publicly announce that he accepted the nomination because of fear. He asked his assistant to determine whether he would need to resign to take office or whether a license would solve the case. He said he would agree to resign if necessary. If he leaves office, he fears being embarrassed by a veto on the Senate floor--which is rare, but it has already happened.
A lawyer and clerk of the Federal Police, Eduardo does not have specific international training. He is one of the most influential members of the so-called ideological group of the government, influenced by the ideas of Olavo de Carvalho, a Brazilian writer residing in the USA.
Eduardo endorsed the nomination, made by Olavo, of the diplomat Ernesto Araújo for the position of chancellor.
Both have worked together, with the deputy in charge of the Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee of the House, and they exchange constant praise.
In Itamaraty, the minister's disciples even call Eduardo "shadow chancellor," for connecting Araújo to his president father.
However, during Jair Bolsonaro's visit to the United States in March, Ernesto had a hissy fit in front of other ministers in the party because Eduardo participated in a private meeting between Bolsonaro and American president Donald Trump.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon