Lula's "minister of ideas" quits Brazil government
BRASILIA, June 29 (Reuters) - Brazil's minister of strategic affairs, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, is quitting the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to return to his teaching post at Harvard University, Lula said on Monday.
Unger, who took up the newly created post in 2007, had been rumored to be leaving the government because he had been unable to extend his period of leave from the U.S. university's law school.
"He has to fulfill his role at Harvard," Lula told reporters in the capital Brasilia.
Often referred to as Lula's "minister of ideas," Unger devoted much of his efforts to guiding the government's policies toward the Amazon rain forest and outlining a national defense strategy aimed at reflecting Brazil's growing importance on the global stage.
His more development-focused approach to the world's largest rain forest was a frequent source of tension with conservationists and contributed to the resignation of former Environment Minister Marina Silva in May 2008.
Just two years before his appointment, Unger had called Lula's government the most corrupt in Brazil's history. Unger, whose former students at Harvard include U.S. President Barack Obama, later said he had been mistaken.
Unger, who was born in Brazil but has lived most of his life in the United States, has long been politically active in Latin America. He is best known for his efforts to push for an alternative to neoliberalism, the label often given to the view that free-market economics and development go hand-in-hand.
Lula did not say who would replace Unger. (Reporting by Natuza Nery; Writing by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Todd Benson and Vicki Allen)
- Tweet this
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
Follow Reuters