RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro published a video on his social media in which the Minister of Education, Abraham Weintraub, states that public tenders in Brazil select people with left-wing political bias.
The video was posted on Bolsonaro’s official account on Facebook. In the post, the president speaks of “indoctrination and lies even in bid contests”.
“Go online and see how the last ABIN (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) public tender went. If you watch, you’ll see it’s a tender in which there’s virtually no math and there’s talk of the US government. So, in the selection, people with a left-wing bias are selected, like the ENEM,” Weintraub says.
The minister fails to explain in his speech why he believes the words the United States – recognized in dictionaries as synonymous with American – would suggest a left-wing political bias.
The video was posted on Bolsonaro’s official account on Facebook. In the post, the president wrote “indoctrination and lies even in tenders. “If it were asked in a test: who took over the presidency of the republic after João Goulart’s departure in 1964? What is your answer?”, added the minister, referring to the President of the Republic overthrown by the military coup that year.
In the video, the Minister of Education further says that the alleged indoctrination in public tenders dates back to the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government (1995-2002). In the one-minute video, he fails to produce any evidence to support his claims.
“See, this started with Fernando Henrique. We’re not talking about 16 years of PT (Workers’ Party), we’re talking about over a quarter of a century. Of ongoing indoctrination that starts smoothly and gradually, you start to think that wrong is normal. And suddenly you have to think wrong is beautiful. That’s what we’re talking about,” Weintraub says.
In the video, the minister also classifies the ministry of education as “a colossus” and says that the portfolio concentrates 300,000 of the 600,000 federal government employees. “This body is filled with people who’ve been chosen by bids. It’s important to tell them what these public bids are like,” he says.
Weintraub arrived at the Ministry April, when he replaced Ricardo Vélez Rodríguez, and since then his administration has been marked by the intensification of ideological discourse and belligerence on social media.
Experts criticize the minister’s administration and say he has put a brake on the country’s educational policy. For one, Bolsonaro’s pledge to prioritize early childhood education and primary and secondary education – the so-called basic education – has not been fulfilled. The portfolio combines poor coordination with the education departments throughout the country and low budget execution of federal resources.
In May, he appeared on social media in a video holding an umbrella, dancing to ironize news of budget cuts: “It’s raining fake news,” he said at the time. Despite complaints about his performance, Weintraub is often praised and endorsed by Bolsonaro in his statements.
Last week, he was again criticized after posting a message with a Portuguese mistake on his social media. At the time, thanking Federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro for his support, the minister wrote “imprecionante” (“imprecive”) instead of “impressive” – the post was later deleted.