NEWS

Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro to appoint son as ambassador to US

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has invited his son Eduardo to become ambassador to the United States,

underscoring his family’s influential role in the country’s diplomacy and domestic politics.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, currently a federal congressman, told reporters he would accept the role if nominated. His father said earlier that the appointment would hinge on his son’s acceptance.

“If it is a mission given by the president, I would accept,” Eduardo told reporters, adding he was prepared to resign from Congress if the president appointed him.

He added that the ultimate nomination still depended on conversations with his father and the foreign minister Ernesto Araujo.

The appointment would need to be approved by the Senate foreign relations committee before passing to the full upper house for confirmation.

Brazil’s previous ambassador to Washington retired in April.

The far-right Brazilian president, who said his campaign of 2018 was inspired by Donald Trump, has made friendly overtures to the American leader and made similar use of family members as official advisers.

Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Flavio, is advancing his conservative social agenda as a senator.

Carlos Bolsonaro, another son of the president and a Rio de Janeiro city councillor, has taken a role in his father’s social media communications and stirred controversy by attacking members of the Brazilian cabinet.

Eduardo, the third of the president’s four sons and a daughter from three marriages, has counselled his father on foreign affairs.

After his father’s election in October, Eduardo was one of his first envoys to Washington where he met Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, and was spotted wearing a “Trump 2020” cap.

The former Trump adviser Steve Bannon named the younger Bolsonaro the Latin American leader of his rightwing nationalist organisation, The Movement.

During the Brazilian leader’s White House visit in March, Trump heaped praise on Eduardo, who sat by his father during an Oval Office chat while Brazil’s foreign minister and ambassador in Washington were nowhere to be seen.

source: theguardian