Rio’s Acting Governor Ousts About 550 Appointees, Scraps Three Subsecretariats

Overview

• Ricardo Couto expanded his purge with 93 more dismissals in the Casa Civil and Government secretariat, taking the total to roughly 550 people removed from political posts.
• Those cut include appointees who ran for city council in the interior, lost, and were later placed in far‑flung state jobs, according to TV Globo’s reporting cited by multiple outlets.
• Couto signed decrees that shut down three units under the state’s Chief of Staff — Special Projects, Gastronomy, and Community Actions and Entrepreneurship — eliminating their internal structures and leadership posts.
• The government paused new hires and ongoing bids for 30 days at the state highways department (DER‑RJ) and the Infrastructure and Cities secretariats, with exceptions only for urgent or soon‑to‑expire contracts that win case‑by‑case approval.
• The plan includes a broad audit of about 6,700 active contracts worth roughly R$81 billion, an estimated R$10 million in monthly savings from staff cuts, and a rebuilt management core that revives a Subsecretaria‑Geral under state prosecutor Sérgio Pimentel.