President Dilma Rousseff replaced Nelson Jobimas defence minister in her cabinet after he reportedly called one fellow minister a “weakling” and described others as “idiots.” He is also said to have been angry that Rousseff overruled him on a multi-billion dollar contract to buy fighter jets.
Jobim is the third minister to lose his job since President Rousseff took office in January. Last month, Transport Minister Alfredo Nascimento resigned over a corruption scandal in his department, and in June President Rousseff’s chief of staff, Antonio Palocci, stepped down in the face of questions about his rapid accumulation of personal wealth.
