Generals & even a few ideologues are asking Bolsonaro to sack Ernesto Araújo, Minister of ForeignAffairs & Ricardo Salles, Minister of the Environment. Even by the gov's (very low) standards, the 2 stand out & make it practically impossible to defend Brazil on the int'l stage🧵👇
The problem is that both Salles and Araújo represent two key factions in Bolsonaro's winning coalition. Take Salles: Facilitating deforestation has been one of the president's campaign promises and breaking it could make him lose support of an important part of his electorate.
The same is true for Ernesto Araújo: he represents the Bolsonaro coalition's lunatic (but very vocal) fringe. Sacking Araújo could make Bolsonaro's core supporters question his commitment to the cause of fighting their enemy: communism, globalism, environmentalism & George Soros
Araújo plays a key role in making the radical part of the electorate happy: when they voted for Bolsonaro, they asked for extreme, uncompromising change. Araújo delivered and turned one of the world's greatest supporters of multilateralism into a global laughing stock and pariah.
It is no coincidence that Bolsonaro chose the Foreign Ministry as a platform for satisfying his most radical supporters. While checks and balances make delivering radical change on the domestic front difficult, few constraints apply in the foreign policy realm.
That is particularly true in Brazil, where the judiciary & parliament prioritize foreign policy only in very rare circumstances. Araújo could therefore relatively freely go about his radical enterprise without much interference.
The Foreign Ministry was also an easy victim bc few interest groups have an active interest in preserving it. With some exceptions, dismantling Brazil's lauded diplomacy only caused despair, initially, among academics, diplomats, environmentalists, human rights NGOs & journalists
It is no surprise that what may ultimately lead to the removal of Salles & Araújo is the growing perception that their radicalism hurts Brazil's economy, ranging from the boycott against Brazilian products abroad, intl' investors shunning Brazil & trade deals not being ratified.
