Bolsonaro appoints Brazil’s new minister of Justice, Public Security

André Luiz Mendonça is Brazil’s new minister of Justice and Public Security. He is leaving the Attorney-General’s Office to replace Sergio Moro, who resigned on Friday (24).

Mendonça, 46, is a lawyer and holds a PhD in Law and Global Governance and a master’s degree in Anti-Corruption Strategies and Integrity Policies from the University of Salamanca, in Spain.

He served in a number of major positions at the Attorney-General’s Office since 2000. More recently, at the Comptroller-General’s Office, he worked as special adviser to the minister, leading negotiation teams in leniency deals between the federal government and private firms.

For the position of director-general of the Federal Police, the president appointed Alexandre Ramagem, who was director at the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin). He graduated in Law and joined the Federal Police in 2005.

In 2017, in the context of the progress of the probes under Operation Car Wash in Rio de Janeiro, Ramagem was invited to join the federal officers tasked with investigation and intelligence in the operation. His operational knowledge about security and intelligence led him to the security coordination of then hopeful, now President Jair Bolsonaro.