Brazil ’ s education minister resigned Tuesday only five days after he was appointed , amid accusations that he lied over his academic record .
Carlos Decotelli was the first black person to be appointed to the government of far -right President Jair Bolsonaro.
Decotelli handed in his resignation to Bolsonaro in Brasilia , said a spokesman, Paulo Roberto , capping several days of controversy .
Bolsonaro named Decotelli last week as replacement for Abraham Weintraub , who resigned in mid - June after becoming embroiled in a series of controversies , including making racist anti - Chinese comments on Twitter .
Decotelli had claimed he held a Master’ s degree from Brazil ’ s Getulio Vargas Foundation, a doctorate from Argentina’ s University of Rosario and a post - doctorate from Germany ’ s Wuppertal University .
But those claims came under scrutiny within days of his appointment , leading much of the Brazilian media to refer to him as the “ future ex - minister. ”
The academic credentials had been vaunted by Bolsanaro in a tweet announcing his appointment last week .
As early as Friday , however , Rosario University ’ s rector said Decotelli had not obtained a doctorate there and had never defended his thesis .
On Monday, the minister explained the university jury had asked him to make changes to his thesis , but he had run out of money and had to return to Brazil .
No comments:
Post a Comment