Brazil’s Conservative Government First to Appoint Black Minister of Education

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Carlos Alberto Decotelli was announced on Thursday, June 25th, as the new Minister of Education.

According to the Ministers Gallery of the Ministry of Education (MEC) website, the portfolio had never had a black Minister since its creation in 1930.

The promise of liberalism in the economy and conservatism in social customs helped elect President Jair Bolsonaro. This announced, for many, the belief that blacks, LGBTs, indigenous, and northeasterners would be given limited attention in Bolsonaro’s conservative administration.

At the head of the Planalto for over a year, today, ironically, the chief executive has appointed a black man to the most ideologically-centered post within the government, Minister of Education.

The changes Brazil has experienced since the 1988 Constituent Assembly have led the institutions in a more progressive direction.

After Bolsonaro’s announcement, the decree appointing the new Minister was published in the Federal Gazette’s electronic version. Until then, Antonio Paulo Vogel de Medeiros had been in charge of the portfolio as acting Minister since Weintraub’s departure.

A Navy Reserve Officer, Carlos Alberto Decotelli da Silva served as a professor at the Naval War College, War Games Center, and chaired the National Education Development Fund (FNDE) between February and August last year. He then moved on to the Ministry of Education’s Specialized Programs Secretariat.

Decotelli holds a bachelor’s degree in Economic Sciences from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), a master’s degree from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), a doctorate from the University of Rosario (Argentina) and a post-doctorate from the University of Wuppertal, Germany.

National Education Development Fund

When Decotelli chaired the FNDE, the company Brink Mobil was chosen by public bid to provide school supplies to students in the public education system. The owner of Brink Mobil, Valdemar Ábila, was arrested in December 2019 as part of the Federal Police Operation Calvário. The bidding process began in 2018.

In February 2019, the FNDE and Brink minuted the price of the contract with a total of R$374 (US$69) million in payments. Decotelli and Ábila signed the document.

On June 1st, Bolsonaro appointed Marcelo Lopes da Ponte, Senator Ciro Nogueira’s chief of staff, to the presidency of FNDE, which manages a budget of R$ 54 billion this year. Nogueira is one of the leading politicians of PP (Progressives Party), which is part of the Centrão (center bloc) group that has recently allied itself to the government.

The FNDE is one of the MEC’s subsidiary agencies, and is responsible for the implementation of a number of national initiatives, such as the National Program for Books and Educational Material (PNLD), the National Program for the Restructuring and Acquisition of Equipment for the Public School Network for Early Childhood Education (PROINFÂNCIA) and the National School Meals Program (PNAE).

Source: G1