The Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, was dismissed by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) this Wednesday (11), upon request. The decision was published in the DOU (Official Gazette of the Union).
In place of Albuquerque, Bolsonaro appointed Adolfo Sachsida, who left his position as head of the Special Advisory Office to the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes.
The dismissal occurred less than a week after the president criticized the pricing policy of... PetroBrazilians demanded that diesel prices be frozen until the end of the international crisis.
"You cannot, Minister Bento Albuquerque and Mr. José Mauro, from PetroBrazilians, you cannot raise the price of diesel. I'm not appealing, I'm stating a fact considering the exorbitant profits you're making. You cannot bankrupt Brazil. This is an appeal now: PetroBrazilians, don't bankrupt Brazil, don't raise the price of oil. I can't intervene. You have profits, you have surplus value, and you have the social role of... PetroBrazil defined in the Constitution”, Bolsonaro said last Thursday (5).
Already this Monday (10), the PetroBrazil announced an 8,87% increase in the price of diesel at its refineries.
Fleet admiral of the Brazilian Navy, Bento Albuquerque took over the Ministry of Mines and Energy with Bolsonaro's inauguration in 2019.
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I don't understand how and why the Ministers can't align themselves with the government's guidelines, I think that deep down it must be vanity because of the military rank, that's all it can be. And the country that loses out…