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Rousseff names four loyalists in cabinet

Xinhua, April 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Friday named four new ministers to her cabinet following an exodus in recent weeks amid an impeachment process against her, according to the government's official daily Gazette.

Marco Antonio Martins Almeida will take the post of mines and energy minister; Mauricio Muniz Barreto de Carvalho, head of Secretariat of Ports; Ines da Silva Magalhaes, minister of cities; and Alessandro Golombiewski Teixeira, minister of tourism.

All four are Rousseff's loyalists, who have held high positions in the government in the past, and are thus seen as safe pairs of hands.

The ministers, who resigned to support the impeachment process against her, were members of parties other than Rousseff's Workers' Party, .

Eight ministers in total have quit in recent weeks, leaving Rousseff's already fragile government with less room to act.

The posts of ministers of sports, national integration, civil aviation, and of science and technology remain vacant.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court this week delayed a decision on whether to allow former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to take office.

Rousseff named her mentor as her chief of staff in March, allegedly to help restore her government's trajectory, but the move was immediately blocked by three separate injunctions, stating that this appointment would allow Lula to dodge prosecution on charges of corruption.

On April 17, the Chamber of Deputies voted 367-146 to endorse impeachment against Rousseff, passing the matter to the Senate.

Should the Senate decide within 24 days to begin an impeachment trial, Rousseff will have to step aside for 180 days for the trial to proceed. Vice President Temer will then take over as interim president. Endi