Brazil’s Senate Votes to Move Ahead with Dilma Rousseff’s Trial

Vinod Sreeharsha – The New York Times, 08/10/2016

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s Senate voted in the early hours of Wednesday to push forward with the impeachment trial of Dilma Rousseff, the president who was suspended in May, an important step that could result in her final removal from office.

The trial in the Senate, which will be overseen by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, is expected to take place this month. After hours of debate in the capital, Brasília, senators voted 59 to 21 to indict her on charges of budgetary manipulation, formally making her a defendant.

 Although only a simple majority was needed in Wednesday’s vote, the number of senators that went against Ms. Rousseff exceeded the two-thirds that would be needed to oust her permanently when a final vote is held after the trial ends.

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Brazil: Lula Favored in 2018 Election, Temer Tanks at 5%

Telesur, 07/27/2016

Suspended President Dilma Rousseff´s predecesor, former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,–popularly known as Lula–   is the favored candidate for the 2018 presidential election, while “interim” President Michel Temer trails far behind with just 5 percent, according to a new Datafolha poll commissioned by the Globo newspaper.

The poll, of 2,792 respondents conducted between July 14 and 15, found that the former labor leader and Workers’ Party founder Lula leads voter preferences with 22 percent, followed by the Green Party’s Marina Silva at 17 percent. Silva finished third in the 2010 preisdential election.

Lula has expressed interest in running in the 2018 election, saying that the more he and his ally Rousseff are attacked, the more likely he is to run.

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Leader of Brazil’s Rousseff Impeachment Resigns From Top Job

Associated Press – The New York Times, 07/07/2016

RIO DE JANEIRO — The man who led efforts to impeach Brazil’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff resigned on Thursday as speaker of the lower house of congress, but kept the congressional seat that could help shield him from corruption charges.

Brazil’s top court already had suspended Eduardo Cunha from his duties over allegations of obstructing justice and corruption, including holding Swiss bank accounts worth millions of dollars in bribes.

Cunha kicked off the proceedings against Rousseff in December 2015, accusing her of violating fiscal laws, which the embattled leader denies.

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Brazil’s Gold Medal for Corruption

The Editorial Board – The New York Times, 06/06/2016

Michel Temer, Brazil’s interim president, displayed poor judgment on his first day in office last month when he appointed an all-white, all-male cabinet. This understandably angered many in racially diverse Brazil.

Their outrage was compounded by the fact that seven of the new ministershad been tainted by a corruption scandal and investigation that have shaken Brazilian politics. The appointments added to the suspicion that the temporary ouster of President Dilma Rousseff last month over allegations that she resorted to unlawful budget-balancing tricks had an ulterior motive: to make the investigation go away. Earlier this year, Ms. Rousseff said that allowing the inquiry into kickbacks at Petrobras, the state oil company, to run its course would be healthy for Brazil in the long run.

Two weeks after the new interim government was seated, Romero Jucá, Mr. Temer’s planning minister, resigned after a newspaper reported on a recorded phone conversation in which Mr. Jucá appeared to endorse the dismissal of Ms. Rousseff as part of a deal among lawmakers to “protect everyone” embroiled in the scandal. That was the only way, he said, to assure that Brazil “would return to being calm.” Late last month, Fabiano Silveira, the minister of transparency, charged with fighting corruption, was forced to resign after a similarly embarrassing leak of a surreptitiously recorded conversation.

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Poll Shows Support in Brazil for impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff

New York Times, 03/20/2016

RIO DE JANEIRO — A new poll published Sunday suggested strong support for the impeachment of embattled Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in a politically polarized country mired in an economic recession and a corruption probe that has ensnared much of the county’s political brass.

The poll by the respected Datafolha agency, published in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, said 68 percent of people surveyed want to see lawmakers vote to impeach Rousseff. That’s up 8 percentage points since February, with the jump was highest among the rich, who supported Rousseff’s impeachment by 74 percent.

Just 10 percent rated Rousseff’s agoverment good or excellent, with 69 percent calling it bad or terrible.

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Brazil protests: Rousseff and Lula supporters rally amid corruption claims

Bruce Douglas – The Guardian, 03/18/16

At the end of a week of extraordinary political drama, constitutional chaos and massive anti-government protests, supporters of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will rally in cities across the country on Friday.

The Frente Brasil Popular, a network of trade unions, social movements and other organisations sympathetic to the ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) said it would hold events in 45 cities in defence of democracy and the rights of the working class.

It will mark the first major show of strength by Brazil’s pro-government factions since an estimated 3 million people took to the streets on Sunday to demand the president’s resignation.

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Time is of the essence for Brazil, says IOC chief Bach

Andrew Downie – Reuters, 1/21/2014

Time is of the essence if Brazil is to host a successful Olympic Games in 2016, the International Olympic Committee President said on Tuesday.

“I am sure that over the next few months and years we will see a great dynamism in the preparations because we know that time is key if we are to make these games a success,” Thomas Bach said after meeting with President Dilma Rousseff in the capital Brasilia.

The 2016 Games will be held in Rio de Janeiro, the first time they will take place South America.

Bach’s warning came on the day that soccer’s governing body FIFA threatened to exclude Curitiba as one of the host cities of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

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Brazil’s Rousseff boldly shuns base, embraces business

Brian Winter – Reuters, 8/22/2012

(Reuters) – When President Dilma Rousseff announced a $65 billion privatization of Brazilian highways and railroads last week, she could hear air horns and furious chanting coming from outside the presidential palace.

“Dilma, why have you abandoned us?” read a hand-made sign held up by one of the several hundred striking public-sector workers who had gathered to demand wage increases.

For anyone who follows Brazilian politics, the juxtaposition was surprising: a left-leaning president from the Workers’ Party, which has its roots in the 1980s trade union movement, auctioning off government property to private investors while jilted public servants protested outside.

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Brazil’s Rousseff Said to Set Retirement Age to Cap Spending

Raymond Colitt – Bloomberg, 8/14/2012

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff plans to set a minimum retirement age for private sector employees to limit its future pensions deficit, said a government official with knowledge of her decision.

Rousseff will set the age at 65 years for men and 60 years for women. The rule would apply to future, not current, contributors to the government’s social security institute, or INSS, said the official requesting not to be named because the information was confidential. Currently, workers can retire once they contribute a minimum of 35 years for a full pension or 15 years for a partial pension, in the case of men.

Brazil’s pension fund for private sector employees had a deficit of 37.5 billion reais ($18.5 billion) in the 12 months through June, according to the INSS website. Part of the deficit is due to benefits to rural workers who contribute little or nothing to the fund.

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Brazil’s president receives Olympic flag

World News Australia, 8/14/2012

The Brazilian president has received the Olympic flag, as IOC boss Jacques Rogge warned Rio de Janeiro has to “work harder” to prepare for the Games.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has received the Olympic flag, as the competition’s world governing body warned the country has to “work harder” ahead of the Rio Games in 2016.

Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes flew into Rio de Janeiro from London with the flag on Monday, marking the official handover of the Games.

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