Brazil’s education minister resigned Monday amid a scandal involving allegations that evangelical pastors demanded bribes, at a time when the country’s presidential election is months away.
The official gazette of Brazil indicated that President Jair Bolsonaro accepted the resignation of Milton Ribeiro, who became the fourth Minister of Education to leave his post since the current government began in 2019.
Bolsonaro had been facing public pressure to remove Ribeiro from his post, as the accusations could further affect the far-right president’s chances of being re-elected in October. Conservative evangelicals have been a key constituency for Bolsonaro, who trails former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in preliminary polls.
Brazilian media have published several articles and released audio recordings since last week, alleging that two pastors served as unofficial advisers to the Ministry of Education. According to reports, both favored municipalities governed by their allies, and demanded bribes, including a kilogram of gold.
The Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported that Ribeiro said that Bolsonaro had authorized him to serve the two pastors. The newspaper published a recording in which Ribeiro is heard telling several mayors that the government would give priority to municipalities whose petitions are backed by the two clerics.
