Brazilian Diplomat Removed from Post After Criticizing Temer

Julio de Oliveira Silva, a diplomat serving as vice-consul at the Brazilian Consulate in New York, has been removed from his post after publicly criticizing President Michel Temer and his administration.

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His removal was authorized yesterday by Brazil's Minister of Foreign Relations Aloysio Nunes Ferreira, a member of Temer's Social Democracy Party of Brazil.

Oliveira Silva referred to the removal of former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff as a “coup” in an article published by Brasil de Fato, one of the country's left-wing online news journals. He premiered as a columnist at the journal in September, according to Brasil 24/7.

In an article titled, "Temer and the Underdevelopment Project," Oliveira Silva writes that Temer's visit to China “is a portrait of the extreme retrocession of Brazil's performance on the world stage” considering the excessive amount of privatization packages offered to the Asian country. He went on to characterize the offer as someone "selling lunch in order to buy dinner."

In another piece titled, "The Farm Comes to the City," Oliveira Silva wrote, "It's not necessary to have a doctorate in anything, just basic knowledge of history, to understand what happens when the economy is left in the hands of billionaires. It's easy to guess. Or does someone becomes a billionaire through inclusive and popular public policies?"

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Oliveira Silva did not receive prior notice of his removal and learned about it through the Union's Official Gazette, the official journal published by Brazil's federal government.

Embroiled in a slew of corruption charges, Temer's popularity has plummeted down to an incredible 3 percent according to the latest Institute of Public opinion and statistics poll.

The results frame Temer as the most unpopular Brazilian leader since the country's military dictatorship, which lasted from 1964 to 1985.

The poll found that those who see Temer's management as "bad" or "very bad" has jumped to 77 percent from 70 percent in July. The survey also found that no woman respondent had rated his administration as "very good."

The results are based on surveys with some 2,000 residents in 126 Brazilian cities, taken between Sept. 15 and 20.