President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil faces a perfect storm, from charges of corruption to a slowdown in the economy.
The marches are frequent and getting more hostile:
The ongoing corruption investigation of state-run energy company Petrobras may be her biggest problem, though.Last week, the country’s Supreme Federal Court approved investigations on 54 politicians, mostly from Rousseff’s Worker’s Party, suspected of being involved in a graft scheme with the oil giant.Rousseff herself isn’t implicated in the scandal.Even though she was chair of the Petrobras board at the time the alleged scheme occurred, she said she had no knowledge of any wrongdoing, and no evidence has surfaced implicating otherwise. Still, speculation about what she may have known has fueled the calls for impeachment.As the scandal unfolds, Rousseff’s popularity has sunk to an all-time low of 23 percent, according to a February survey by Datafolha.
And the impeachment calls have grown to the extent that Rousseff herself addressed them this week. “Stop looking for a third electoral round,” she said at a press conference Monday, according to news agency Efe.“The elections are over and a third round won’t happen, unless someone wants a breakdown of our democracy.”
Let’s hope that she survives in office.
To be clear, I would not have voted for Miss Rousseff. She was reelected last year in a very close election. Her party played “the class warfare” card and did a good job of getting its supporters to vote.
It was pathetic but elections sometimes turn out that way.
At the same time, I think that Latin American countries need to see elected leaders serve out their terms. I understand the frustration in the streets but calls for “resignation” or even a “military coup” are not helpful.
Didn’t Brazil already have a bad experience with a military junta?
Some in the streets want a Brazilian Pinochet, or a strongman who will bring order and clean up the corrupt public sector. Again, I understand the anger but a military government or special election is not the answer.
Brazil, like other Latin American countries, need to survive these storms rather than give in to people in the streets.
Hopefully, these sad experiences with “populist” policies will make voters wiser. Maybe the voters will demand more transparency and honesty from their candidates in the future.
P.S. You can hear my show (CantoTalk) or follow me on Twitter.
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