Corruption probe may have caused resignation of Brazilian FM

Foreign Minister of Brazil Jose Serra, shown in this July 25, 2016, photo, resigned from his post on Feb. 22, 2017, citing undisclosed medical reasons. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

BRASILIA: The ongoing sweeping Car Wash corruption investigation by the Brazilian Federal Police, which has already seen the arrest of scores of top politicians and businessmen, may have in part pushed Foreign Minister Jose Serra, 74, to resign late Wednesday night.
Executives of the Odebrecht construction company told Car Wash investigators last year that they had provided Serra’s presidential campaign in 2010 with R$23 million ($7.48 million) in illegal campaign funds. Part of the funds were allegedly funneled through a secret Swiss bank account. Serra has denied the accusations.
Serra personally handed his resignation letter to President Michel Temer on Wednesday night citing his ongoing cervical spine pains, that continue even after he had a disc replaced with a titanium plate in December 2016. Serra said he could not stand the frequent international travel demanded as foreign minister, and that he needs at least four months of recuperation. He is returning to his Senate post, where his term continues until 2023.
Folha de São Paulo newspaper reported on Thursday that Temer was caught by surprise by Serra’s resignation and that he had asked the minister to reconsider his decision and just take a leave of absence. Serra insisted on resigning, showing a doctor’s report to the president to press his point home.
Serra just last week traveled to a G20 meeting in Germany, and had to take pain relief injections, according to the Folha, to withstand the pain. The flight from Brazil to western Europe takes at least 11-12 hours. Serra’s doctors had warned him not take long flights so as not to further damage his spine.
Serra had been serving as foreign minister since May 2016, which was when the then Vice President Temer took over as president while President Dilma Rousseff was undergoing impeachment in the National Congress.
Serra was a big change after the decade of leftist rule that saw Brazil cozy up to populist leaders of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Peru. Serra managed last year to get Venezuela suspended from the Mercosul economic bloc. But this rightward shift also saw Cuba refuse until today to confirm Brazil’s ambassadorial appointment to Havana.
Serra also served as Planning and Education minister under previous administrations.
“The corruption accusation does not seem to have had an immediate effect on Serra’s decision to resign because it first surfaced last August and was confirmed just over a month ago. What really seems to have weighed was the perception that Itamaraty no longer was useful to Serra’s political interests, which are very much linked to the presidential elections in 2018,” said Guilherme Casarões, professor of International Relations at FGV and ESPM in Sao Paulo, in an interview with Arab News.
Temer has already lost seven ministers in less than a year in office, most of whom were forced to resign after allegations of corruption. He now must find a replacement for Serra, and a new minister of justice after he appointed Alexandre de Moraes as a new justice on the Supreme Court. Moraes is the replacement for Justice Teori Zavaski who died in a plane crash on Jan. 19. Zavaski was leading the Car Wash investigation.
Serra is a member of the PSDB party, the arch-enemy of the Worker’s Party of former presidents Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. Two PSDB senators, Aloysio Nunes Ferreira and Jose Anibal, have been mentioned as possible replacements for Serra.
“Both names put forth by the PSDB are interesting in that they will consolidate their party’s agenda in Temer’s government. The difference is that Aloysio Nunes has some experience in foreign affairs since he heads the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the National Defense Committee,” said Casarões. “If Aloysio is chosen he will be able to continue the foreign policy agenda of his party, continuing Brazil’s commercial opening and the redefinition of Brazil’s relations with its neighbors, which was started by Serra.”