Brazil’s Lula taps 16 ministers ahead of inauguration
By DIANE JEANTET
Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has appointed 16 ministers just over a week before he takes office. Another dozen or so nominations are expected next week, Lula said on Thursday. After weeks of negotiations, Lula looked to former governors of Brazil’s northeast region, and long-term members of his leftist Workers’ Party, for two of the most important positions: health and social development. The transition team of his incoming administration said that four years under President Jair Bolsonaro had produced significant setbacks in health and education. Some of the positions to be announced next week are still being painstakingly negotiated behind the scenes.