President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva fired his defense minister today, heeding calls for the removal of top aviation officials after nearly 200 people were killed in Brazil's worst air crash last week.
Waldir Pires was forced out as defense minister after two deadly air crashes in less than a year and months of chaos in Brazil's air traffic system, which is run by the military.
The president's office said Nelson Jobim, a retired Supreme Court justice with close ties to Lula, will take over the defense ministry. Pires had been under pressure to resign since last September, when a Boeing 737 operated by Brazil's Gol airline clipped wings with a private jet and crashed in the Amazon jungle.
All 154 people on board died. Lula, who has a history of being slow in reacting to crises, had been reluctant to dismiss his longtime friend. But the pressure to oust him increased sharply after an Airbus A320 flown by the TAM airline skidded off a rain-slicked runway last week at Sao Paulo's Congonhas Airport and crashed into a cargo terminal and gas station, bursting into flames.
All 187 people on board and at least 12 on the ground were killed in the worst aviation accident in Brazil's history. Jobim, who had previously refused an offer to take over the ministry, will be sworn in later on Wednesday, two presidential aides said.
One of Jobim's first tasks as defense minister may be to find a replacement for the head of the national airports authority Infraero, Jose Carlos Pereira, whose leadership has also been called into question during the crisis.
The Gol accident in September exposed serious flaws in Brazil's aviation system, touching off months of flight delays and cancellations. Air traffic controllers, fearing they were being blamed for the crash, have periodically held work slowdowns to protest outdated radar and radio equipment and poor salaries.