Brazil minister says Bolsonaro destroyed country's cultural policies

FILE PHOTO: Singer Margareth Menezes, now Brazil's culture minister, performs during the draw for the 2014 World Cup at the Costa do Sauipe resort in Sao Joao da Mata, Bahia state, December 6, 2013. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's former far-right president dismantled all government cultural programs and blocked funding for institutions and artists, the country's new Culture Minister Margareth Menezes said on Wednesday.

Menezes, a popular singer from Bahia, was picked by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to head the newly restored ministry that had been shut down by his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who reduced it to an office of the tourism ministry.