BRAZILIAN President Jair Bolsonaro yesterday named an evangelical pastor as his fourth education minister in 18 months.

Milton Ribeiro, 62, replaces Carlos Alberto Decotelli, who resigned on July 1 after admitting to having lied on his CV.

Bolsonaro announced the new appointment on his Facebook account, along with a list of Ribeiro’s achievements, which include a Master’s in law and being a member of a presidential ethics commission.

It was Bolsonaro who appointed Ribeiro to that last post, in which he was responsible for investigating ministers and government officials.

Brazilian media said Ribeiro was selected following pressure from the evangelical lobby.

The education minister post has proved a poisoned chalice under Bolsonaro.

Decotelli, the first black person Bolsonaro appointed to his cabinet, lasted only five days in the job after it was revealed he had lied about earning a Master’s, doctorate and post-doctorate from three separate universities, including two overseas establishments.

He was a 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.

Before Weintrub, who spent more than a year in the post, Ricardo Velez lasted just three months.

One of Ribeiro’s first tasks will be to manage the return of school children to class as the coronavirus pandemic rages in Brazil.

Brazil is the second worst affected country in the world after the United States, with 1.8 million cases and 70,000 deaths.

Since assuming the presidency in January 2019, Bolsonaro has also twice changed his health minister, both of those coming since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak and provoked by disagreements over his management of the crisis. – AFP, July 11, 2020.