Bolsonaro Announces the Dismissal of Brazilian Postal Service President

By Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro announced on Friday morning, June 14th, that he will dismiss the president of the Brazilian Post and Telegraph Company (ECT, also known as Correios), General Juarez Aparecido de Paula Cunha.

At a breakfast meeting with journalists, the President said that Cunha “went to Federal Congress and acted as a trade unionist”, referring to the general’s participation in a public hearing on June 5th, in which he criticized the privatization of the state-owned company.

According to the Radar blog, in a debate held in the Participatory Legislation Committee, led by PT deputies, the general delivered a speech that pleased an audience consisting of trade unionists and company employees. “It’s a strategic, self-sustaining, irreplaceable company. A citizen company, a pride of Brazil,” he said. Ultimately, Cunha posed for a photo with the group and stood alongside PT and PSOL deputies.

The sale of the Brazilian Post and Telegraph Company was announced by Bolsonaro himself in an exclusive interview with VEJA magazine, when he was asked what the government would do after the approval of the pension reform. “Let’s go for tax reform and privatizations. I’ve already given the green light for privatizing the Brazilian Postal Service. The challenge is for us to explain why it is necessary to privatize,” he said.