Rousseff dismisses education minister after remarks against coalition allies
President Dilma Rousseff 
President Dilma Rousseff said on Thursday (19) that Education Minister Cid Gomes's dismissal was an isolated cabinet change and that no further alteration is expected in her team.
“It's not a ministerial reform. A ministerial reform is [not] a panacea; it won't solve our problems. What solves our problem is what we're putting into practice,” she told journalists after a ceremony at the presidential palace.
The president went on to say that the appointment of Gomes's successor in the Ministry of Education will not be based on political affiliation: “I'll choose whoever is good for education; not someone from this or that party.”
Cid Gomes resigned on Wednesday (Mar 18), after a session at the Chamber of Deputies where he was called to clarify statements he made during an event at the Federal University of Pará, on February 27. On the occasion, he told a group of people that the Congress has “some 400 or 300 extortionists” who take advantage of the government's weakness.
In his defense in the Chamber of Deputies, he apologized for the statement, but turned against lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha: “I'd rather be accused by him of being impolite than be accused, as he has been, of extortion, as stated on the cover of [newspaper] Folha de S. Paulo.”
Party leaders from both the ruling and the opposition bases harshly criticized Cid Gomes's attitude and remarks uttered during the sitting in the Chamber of Deputies and called for his ouster. Gomes announced his resignation right away.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Rousseff dismisses education minister after remarks against coalition allies
