Brazil sports minister George Hilton resigns over political crisis

Brazil’s sports minister resigned amid a raging political crisis, five months before Rio de Janeiro hosts the Olympic Games, the presidency said.

“The president of the republic, Dilma Rousseff, informs that Minister George Hilton has resigned at his request,” a statement said yesterday.

Hilton, who had been in the post since 2014, will be replaced on an interim basis by Ricardo Leyser, who has long been the federal government’s point man for the organization of the Games, the first in South America.

It was not clear how long Leyser would be in the job.

Rousseff’s government is on the brink of a major shake-up after her coalition’s main partner, the PMDB, voted to go into opposition and support an attempt to impeach the leftist president.

The Olympics open August 5. Preparations for the Games have largely fallen from the spotlight in Brazil as Rousseff fights for her political survival.