Brazil’s foreign minister resigns due to medical reasons

RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil’s foreign minister resigned from his post Wednesday night, citing undisclosed medical reasons.

Jose Serra, who was named to the job last May, said in a letter to President Michel Temer that he needed at least four months to recover from a disease he did not identify. He also said he could not travel as much as needed or perform day-to-day work properly as foreign minister.

Serra is a key leader of the centre-right Brazilian Social Democracy Party. He has run for president twice and lost both times in runoff elections. He was defeated by former union leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2002, and eight years later lost to former guerrilla Dilma Rousseff.

Some in Serra’s party still consider the 74-year-old senator to be a presidential hopeful.

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