Coup in world’s seventh-largest economy

robert99

robert99

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President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil said on Tuesday that her vice president was orchestrating a conspiracy to topple her, as efforts to impeach her gained momentum in the National Congress.

Aided by her mentor and predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Ms. Rousseff scrambled to secure enough support from a dwindling array of allies to block impeachment in a lower-house vote set for Sunday that analysts predicted she would lose.

While Ms. Rousseff fights for her political survival, her government is largely paralyzed as Brazil, which has the world’s seventh-largest economy, struggles with a deep recession and its biggest corruption scandal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/w...eff-accuses-vice-president-of-conspiracy.html
 
Is it really a coup if no military or direct physical force is involved? It seems like they're using legal and democratic processes.
 
Brazil Supreme Court upholds Rousseff impeachment vote - BBC News
Brazil's Supreme Court has rejected a government injunction aimed at preventing an impeachment vote against President Dilma Rousseff.
Ms Rousseff, who says her opponents are plotting a "coup", faces claims she manipulated government accounts.

The allegations, which Ms Rousseff denies, are that she juggled the accounts to make her government's economic performance appear better than it was, ahead of her election campaign two years ago.

The president's supporters say the issue is not valid grounds for impeachment.

If the president and Vice-President Mr Temer were both suspended from office, the next in line to assume the presidency would be lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha.

However, he is facing money-laundering and other charges.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/15/w...awmakers-facing-graft-cases-of-their-own.html
Altogether, 60 percent of the 594 members of Brazil’s Congress face serious charges like bribery, electoral fraud, illegal deforestation, kidnapping and homicide, according to Transparency Brazil, a corruption-monitoring group.

The issue has even become a part of the president’s defense strategy. In particular, Ms. Rousseff and her supporters have argued, how can the impeachment process be directed by someone who is going on trial for corruption himself?

:rofl:
 
Another one of those places I'm not planning to go on vacation with my yatch any time soon!

Well, I was reading about the Brazilian military government a.k.a. the junta that ruled from the mid 60s until the mid 80s. As chaotic and corrupt as democracy can get, let's hope they don't revert to that kind of system.
 
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robert99 said:
In particular, Ms. Rousseff and her supporters have argued, how can the impeachment process be directed by someone who is going on trial for corruption himself?
Click to expand...

I think it would render credibility to their expertise on the matter ;-)
 
Seems like this will drag on to the Olympics - could be a new sporting event :D
Brazil crisis: Rousseff loses lower house impeachment vote - BBC News
Brazil's lower house has voted to start impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff over charges of manipulating government accounts.

The "yes" camp comfortably won the required two-thirds majority, after a lengthy session in the capital.

The motion will now be sent to the upper house, the Senate, which is expected to suspend Ms Rousseff while it carries out a formal trial.
 
To be honest ... while I am definitely not in favour of right-wing governments, I am also specifically not a fan of socialist politicians ending up stealing all the money they can and enjoying the fruits of their corruption.

But I guess it is about par for the course in some countries.
 
This thing is starting to look like a clandestine coup of sorts now. The new government consists of 24 white men. While I think white men is a group who have made some of the greatest contributions to humanity etc. and they are getting an undeservedly bad rep these days, this does look quite odd in this day and age, particularly in a country like Brazil where so many are not white. Rousseff's governments had a total of 15 women over the years, and there were also black people.
 
You upset the Israelis, you pay the price - Sep 23, 2015
Brazil: Rousseff Rejects New Israeli Ambassador Dani Dayan
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has apparently voiced her rejection of Dani Dayan, who was named the Israeli Ambassador to Brazil earlier this month by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, because of Dayan’s prominent role in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

You complain about the NSA bugging your phone, you pay the price - May 13, 2016
Washington Coup in Brazil? Was Incoming President US Embassy Informant?
The US has long been opposed to Rousseff, seeing her independent-mindedness and participation in the BRICS trade grouping as a threat to US influence in the region. Leftist governments in both Brazil and Venezuela have long been targets of US destabilization efforts. When Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA had been tapping her phones, Rousseff delivered a blistering speech at the United Nations accusing the US of violating international law and violating “the principles that must guide the relations among…friendly nations.” Most foreign leaders when informed that the NSA had been spying on them sheepishly dropped the subject. Rousseff was almost alone in venting her rage over what she viewed as betrayal by a friendly government.
 
Ohh ... Brazil leaked tape forces minister Romero Juca out - BBC News
A close ally of Brazil's acting President Michel Temer is stepping aside in a new political scandal.

Planning Minister Romero Juca was caught on tape allegedly conspiring to obstruct the country's biggest-ever corruption investigation.

In the tapes, leaked by a newspaper, he appears to talk of stopping the probe at oil giant Petrobras by impeaching suspended President Dilma Rousseff.

Mr Juca says his comments have been taken out of context.

Dilma Rousseff said the tapes prove that the impeachment process is a "political coup" designed to protect senior figures implicated in the Petrobras scandal.

She is accused of massaging budget figures ahead of her re-election in 2014, and is due to be tried in the senate in the coming months.

In the audio transcript, leaked by the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper on Monday, Mr Juca appears to be saying the impeachment was necessary to "staunch the bleeding" and create a "political pact" needed to "stop everything and limit things."
 
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