First time Brazilian president accepts black minister into government

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, for the first time, included a black minister in his government. Economics professor Carlos Albert Decotelli will become the new Minister of Education.

President Bolsonaro has already received intense criticism for the lack of diversity within his government team. Decotelli, 70, is already the third minister of education under Bolsonaro.

He replaces Abraham Weintraub, who had to resign last week after controversial statements on Twitter. On that social network, Weintraub made racist statements and put the atrocities of the Nazis into perspective. He called the judges of the Brazilian Supreme Court “eons” who must “go to prison”.

In Brazil, more than half of the population is black, but the country, which was the last American country to abolish slavery in 1888, still has great racial inequality.

In recent weeks, anti-racism protests in Brazil flared up after the death of George Floyd, who was killed in police violence in the US.