Abraham Bragança de Vasconcellos Weintraub is a Brazilian economist and professor. He is the former Minister of Education of Brazil, and a former investment banking executive and known for controversial actions of racism and mismanagement during his tenure as the head of the Ministry of Education.
On 8 April 2019, Bolsonaro appointed Weintraub as the new Minister of Education, replacing Ricardo Vélez Rodríguez. Weintraub is close to Onyx Lorenzoni, the current Chief of Staff whom he previously served as Executive-Secretary.
Departure
On 18 June 2020, after 14 months in office, Weintraub announced his resignation from the Ministry in a video with Bolsonaro posted on social media. On the night of the following day, before his exoneration was published, Weintraub traveled to the United States. To travel, Weintraub took advantage of the diplomatic passport conceded to ministers, due to the fact that the US' travel restrictions related to COVID-19 barred civilians from Brazil starting on 29 May. This was cause for controversy, as a request to the Supreme Federal Court for the apprehension of Weintraub's passport had been filed the day before he traveled, motivated by the two open investigations against him. On 20 June 2020, his resignation from the position of Minister of Education was published on the government's official journal. On 23 June 2020, the resignation date was rectified to be the previous day, 19 June 2020. The government also published a note stating that Weintraub's resignation request was only formally received after he'd already left the country, on the 20th, and that Weintraub himself requested his resignation be retroactivelly changed to the 19th.
In July 2020, Weintraub was elected as an executive director of the World Bank for a term ending on 31 October 2020.
Controversies
Racist statements
In March 2020 Weintraub was reported from a video of a meeting with President Bolsonaro openly giving hate speech against indigenous peoples. At the same meeting, Weintraub also made statements against the Chinese people. Although Weintraub is a descendant of a Jewish family, he is openly against minority rights and values. And in a contradictory way he used the word "people" to make politics against these people.
Accusations regarding drugs in universities
In November 2019, during an interview with Jornal da Cidade, Weintraub accused federal universities of cultivating cannabis and preparing methamphetamine in chemistry labs, but did not present any evidence to support his claims: After the fact, 10 state deputies of Bahia presented an interpellation, questioning Weintraub's accusations. The then-minister responded by saying that his declarations were generic and that he had no intention of accusing any specific persons. Weintraub's statements would therefore be considered as an exercise of free speech.
Emmanuel Macron
In August 2019, Weintraub wrote that the French people had elected a president "devoid of any character" and that Macron is "nothing but a worthless opportunist who seeks support from the French agricultural lobby".
Filming in class
In April 2019, Weintraub stated that the filming of teachers by students during class is a right held by the latter, calling it an "individual liberty". Responding to the minister's statements, jurists argued that the unauthorized filming of teachers in class may violate the fundamental rights of educators, and is unconstitutional.
In a 2018 interview Weintraub claimed that crack was introduced to Brazil by communists in order to weaken the country. He also said that FARC, a Colombiaguerilla movement, had been invited as honored guests to the Foro de São Paulo, an annual gathering of Latin American leftist parties. These comments led The Guardian to brand Weintraub as a conspiracy theorist.
