INTL Brazil Government Impeachment Crisis - Supreme Court removes lower house speaker (5/5)

[Housecarl]

I've been following this mess in the WoW thread but it looks like things are about to go hot so I'm starting this thread....Housecarl

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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics-idUSKCN0XV1UB

World | Thu May 5, 2016 8:13pm EDT
Related: World

Brazil Supreme Court removes lower house speaker Cunha

BRASILIA | By Leonardo Goy and Anthony Boadle


Brazil's Supreme Court removed the speaker of the lower house of Congress on Thursday on charges of obstructing a corruption investigation, days before an impeachment process that he engineered was expected to oust President Dilma Rousseff.

The removal of Eduardo Cunha, a bitter rival of Rousseff and one of Brazil's most divisive public figures, was the latest in a series of political earthquakes in South America's largest country as it struggles with a sweeping corruption scandal and the worst recession in decades.

The Supreme Court voted unanimously to approve a request by Brazil's top prosecutor to strip Cunha of his influential post for allegedly intimidating lawmakers and obstructing an investigation into accusations that he held undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland. Cunha said he would appeal.

An evangelical Christian with strong support from the religious right in Congress, Cunha has for months fended off ethics committee hearings in the lower house about whether he lied about the accounts, using every trick in the procedural book.

The bespectacled speaker with slicked-back hair has remained unflappable, calmly denying prosecutors' accusations he had used the Swiss accounts to stash millions of dollars in bribe money.

Cunha is the only sitting lawmaker so far officially charged by the Supreme Court with corruption in the sweeping kickbacks scandal focused on state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, commonly known as Petrobras (PETR4.SA).

Deputy speaker Waldir Maranhao, a member of the Progressive Party who is also being investigated in the Petrobras scandal, became acting head of the lower chamber with Cunha's suspension.

As speaker, Cunha stood third in the line of presidential succession and would have become second if the Senate decides next week, as expected, to try Rousseff for alleged budget irregularities.

If the Senate puts her on trial, as expected in a vote next Wednesday, she would be immediately suspended from office for up to six months during the trial and replaced by Michel Temer, her 75-year-old vice president. Temer is already forming his cabinet.

Cunha launched impeachment proceedings against Rousseff in December on charges she broke budget laws. His suspension could have helped Rousseff had it come earlier.

Now, it could work against Rousseff by weakening her argument that she is being impeached by corrupt politicians. It may instead help Temer by eliminating a tainted ally with whom the new president would have had to negotiate legislation.

A Temer government would desperately need to pass reforms to revive confidence in Brazil's ailing economy and plug a budget deficit that exceeded 10 percent of gross domestic product last year. Fitch Ratings downgraded Brazil's sovereign debt further into junk territory on Thursday, to BB with a negative outlook, citing a very challenging political environment.

"Temer could inherit the presidency because of a process started by Cunha," said Rafael Cortez, a political analyst with Tendencias, a consultancy in Sao Paulo. "Any agreements they would have made could have looked like payback for enabling him to become president."


'FRANK UNDERWOOD'

A wily backroom dealmaker, Cunha has been dubbed the Frank Underwood of Brazilian politics by the country's media, a reference to the ruthless president in "The House of Cards" television series.

A familiar voice to many Brazilians as an evangelical radio commentator, Cunha has sparked protests with his plans to tighten abortion rules.

More recently, details of lavish spending on foreign trips with his young wife, including classes at a top Miami tennis academy, stirred outrage in the midst of the deep recession.

Cunha is accused of taking $5 million in bribes on contracts for two drill-ships in the corruption scheme that engulfed Petrobras two years ago.

Though Rousseff herself has not been accused of any wrongdoing directly related to the scandal, it has ensnared her allies and raised pressure for her ouster.

The leftist president has been fighting for her political survival since the lower house commanded by Cunha voted on April 17 to charge her with manipulating government accounts. Her opponents say this allowed her to boost public spending before her 2014 re-election.

Rousseff denies any wrongdoing and has accused Temer of orchestrating a 'coup' to end 13 years of Workers Party rule. She has accused Cunha of starting the impeachment proceedings against her because the Workers Party did not help him avoid the ethics probe.

"It’s a clear abuse of power. He used his position for revenge," Rousseff said.

Cunha said he hoped she will be convicted by the Senate. "On Wednesday we will be able to say, better late than never, that Brazil will be free of the Workers Party," he told reporters.

Should Temer become president, Senate leader Renan Calheiros, another politician who is under investigation for corruption, would become the next in line to lead the nation.

Temer would serve out the remainder of Rousseff's term through 2018, and would not be able to run for president. The Sao Paulo state electoral court ruled this week that he exceeded the limits of campaign donations in 2014 and cannot run for elected office for eight years.


(Writing by Anthony Boadle and Daniel Flynn; Editing by James Dalgleish and Andrew Hay)

 

[Housecarl]

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-05-06/the-lessons-from-brazil-s-whatsapp-block

Video

The Lessons From Brazil's WhatsApp Block

5:12 PM PDT
May 5, 2016

Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, co-founder of The Chertoff Group, discusses the privacy pressure on U.S. tech companies. He speaks with Bloomberg's Emily Chang on "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg)

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-...ic-cocktail-of-crises-could-mean-opportunity/

Column: In Brazil, finding opportunity in deepening crisis

BY Vikram Mansharamani May 5, 2016 at 1:12 PM EDT

Brazil is suffering from a toxic cocktail of economic, political and public health crises. Once hailed as a beacon of emerging market growth, the country now wallows in pessimism.

Brazil’s growth rate fell from 7.5 percent in 2010 to -3.8 percent in 2015; a worse contraction is expected this year. Inflation is at a 12-year high, unemployment is approaching 10 percent, and the country’s currency, the real, fell by a third in 2015. A bloated public sector, large entitlements and over-regulation continue to hamper the economy. Leaders have failed to implement meaningful reforms amidst these headwinds, instead opting for populist policies. And commodity prices, which once supported the resource-rich economy, have been clobbered by the bursting of China’s credit-fueled investment bubble.

Meanwhile, a political crisis has rocked the country. The lower house of Brazil’s National Congress recently voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff. She has been accused, as noted in the New York Times, of employing “budgetary ticks to conceal a looming deficit.” Investigators claim she borrowed billions from state-owned banks during the 2014 elections to fund popularity-enhancing social programs.

The president’s defenders have asked whether her actions are actually impeachment-worthy, with several supporters calling recent events an attempted coup. Others suggest the proceedings are more of a cover-up than a coup, noting that political theatrics are distracting popular attention from lingering investigations of prominent business and political leaders. Tensions are running high as former allies and supporters have taken to the streets.

As if political and economic chaos was not enough, Brazil was also struck by a Zika virus epidemic last year that continues to affect the population. Given the link between the virus and brain development disorders in fetuses, the public health community is rightfully alarmed. The number of likely cases in Brazil is approaching 100,000, with more than a third coming from the southeast, which contains Rio de Janeiro.

Rio is also hosting the Olympics this summer, and the public health community has been warning pregnant women not to travel to the country. Further, recent evidence suggests Zika can also be sexually transmitted, meaning future fathers may also stay away.

The impact of the epidemic on attendance at the games is still unclear. Ticket sales have been slower than expected, but officials are optimistic they will pick up. Meanwhile, a range of other operational challenges seem likely to hamper the games, including construction delays on a key subway line linking stadiums to the rest of Rio.

Despite the political, economic and public health crises hanging over the country, there are still reasons for cautious long-term optimism.

As the eighth-largest economy in the world, Brazil remains a huge market that global corporations want to access. The International Monetary Fund recently pointed out that foreign direct investment in the country has grown despite the widespread economic and political challenges. Moreover, with inflation expectations and labor costs starting to fall, there are preliminary signs that the economy may be bottoming out. And the weak Brazilian real should help exporters.

Further, while it’s too early to tell, there’s the possibility of another commodity boom around the corner. Under its One Belt, One Road initiative, China has already announced a massive program to rebuild the Silk Road. The construction of railroads, ports, power plants and other infrastructure across Eurasia will drive demand for commodities, like iron ore, which helped Brazil’s economy boom in recent years.

As the global middle class balloons in the coming years, demand for food will skyrocket, and Brazil is well positioned to benefit enormously from this trend. Why’s that? Brazil is an agricultural powerhouse. Despite the recession, the country’s agricultural sector grew last year, and the government expects record or near-record crops of soybeans, corn, coffee and sugar this year. Record beef, chicken and pork exports are also highly likely. As noted by the Wall Street Journal, soy was Brazil’s most valuable export last year, exceeding iron ore, the previous title-holder. The country supplies half of the world’s sugar exports and 40 percent of arabica coffee exports.

But with the rise of another commodity boom is the risk that it provides Brazilian leaders wiggle room to postpone or permanently shelve much-needed reforms. The World Bank’s “Doing Business” report lists Brazil at number 116 of 189. Regulations can and should be streamlined to make the country more business friendly. According to the rankings, it’s currently easier to do business in Ghana, Swaziland, Uzbekistan and Mongolia. The 2016 Index of Economic Freedom lists Brazil as “mostly unfree” at a rank of 122 out of 178 countries.

While these comparative metrics may depress Brazil bulls, they also highlight a huge opportunity. Specifically, leaders should strengthen the rule of law and support market-oriented reforms. The state’s involvement in industries ranging from oil and gas to electricity remains high and should be lowered.

Brazilian leaders and citizens should recall the wisdom of Winston Churchill who said “never let a good crisis go to waste.”

 

[Housecarl]

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36223856

Brazil politics: Dilma Rousseff the fighter battles on

Wyre Davies
Rio de Janeiro correspondent
3 hours ago
From the section Latin America & Caribbean

Although I'd met the Brazilian president on a couple of previous occasions, including a very agreeable dinner for foreign correspondents at the Alvorada Palace, her official residence, I'd almost given up hope on a one-to-one interview with Dilma Rousseff.

Two appointments in recent years had been cancelled by her office at the last minute. Given the recent political turmoil in Brazil, an extended interview with the leader of one of the world's biggest democracies was one of those goals, as a reporter based in Brazil, that I'd just about given up on.

So, much to my surprise and thanks to some seriously hard lobbying by colleagues, the news came through this week that we were "on".

I wasn't about to ask "Why now?" especially as this could be the start of her last week as president.

I certainly think there's some truth in the observation that members of the foreign press corps in Brazil have been less hostile in covering President Rousseff's battle against impeachment than some more partisan reporters within Brazil - the openly misogynistic and hostile nature of the debate in the lower house of Congress last month was a revealing window on the brutal nature of politics here.

The first thing that struck me was that, given the upheaval of recent weeks, Ms Rousseff appeared relaxed and confident. There seemed to be an acceptance of her immediate fate, that when the Senate probably votes to begin a full impeachment trial, she will be suspended from office for as long as 180 days.

However, along with the acknowledgement that she might have to spend six months in political purdah while her deputy, Michel Temer, occupies her office in the Presidential Palace, there seemed to be a similar air of inevitability that she would return, vindicated, to finish the last two years of her term in office.

I really can't fathom where that conviction comes from. As Brazil's economy has dived acutely into recession, inflation has risen and people have lost their jobs, hostility to Dilma Rousseff and her government has steadily grown on the streets of Brazil.

Most observers concur that the principal reason for the impeachment process against the president has much more to do with widespread economic and political dissatisfaction than the official charges: that she illegally manipulated ministerial accounts to conceal the size of the deficit.

Nonetheless, I found Ms Rousseff almost immune to the scale of the nationwide discontent. As she's done before, she reminded me of the 54 million voters who'd returned her to office for a second term only two years ago.

She told me: "What's going on is just a disguise for indirect elections, where Congress appoints the president, as opposed to votes from the ballot boxes, cast by the population."

Dilma Rousseff is clearly convinced that a handful of powerful members of Congress and political opponents have taken advantage of the economic crisis to try to force her out.

Her nemesis, the man she believes is almost personally responsible for her downfall, is Eduardo Cunha. He's the powerful, well-connected congressman from Rio de Janeiro who, as president of the lower house, initiated and pushed through the motion of impeachment.

Ms Rousseff told me that she was a victim of Mr Cunha's spite and revenge.

"He's notorious, known to have foreign accounts and is charged with corruption, but it's only because we refused to give him the votes he needed in the congressional ethics committee, that he's done this."

Mr Cunha has denied the allegations.

There was a small crumb of comfort for Ms Rousseff with the news that Mr Cunha, a politician even more unpopular than the president in the country at large, had been suspended from Congress. The Supreme Court ruled that he tried to obstruct a corruption investigation against him and had intimidated other lawmakers.

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/...ion/_89288417_brazil_impeachment_v2_624in.png

The irony of these events, which I put to the president, was that had she "played by the rules" and made the kind of deals that her predecessors had always done, she might have avoided the impeachment process altogether.

But Dilma Rousseff, perhaps to her own detriment, says she's not interested in deals, especially the kind of political bartering that amounts to nothing more than corruption.

On a personal note, she has many regrets, among them the sexist nature of the campaign against her and what she calls the "betrayal" by some former colleagues and coalition allies.

The woman who could soon be unceremoniously deposed as Brazil's president is also notably slow to blame herself or to take responsibility for the country's remarkable turnaround in fortunes.

When Brazil was awarded the Olympic Games, back in 2009, the economy was booming, millions had been brought out of poverty and had become wage-earning consumers. Almost everyone was happy.

The contrast today could hardly be greater. As Dilma Rousseff welcomed the Olympic Torch to Brasilia this week, she admitted to me it was a bittersweet moment.

It's almost certain now that she'll play no formal role in the Games when they open in Rio on 5 August. Instead, the man she referred to as "the usurper", Michel Temer, is likely to step in. It's clearly something that, as someone who's championed Brazil as the first South American country to host the Olympic Games, really irks Dilma Rousseff.

After all that she's gone through - torture as a political prisoner under the former dictatorship, serious illness and now political humiliation - Dilma Rousseff still calls herself a fighter.

"I'm going nowhere," she replies as I ask her, after our interview finishes, if it will soon be over. But that's a decision that may already be out of Dilma Rousseff's hands.

 

[Housecarl]

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http://www.thenews.com.pk/print/117...ove-against-Lula-clouds-ruling-partys-outlook

Brazil prosecutor’s move against Lula clouds ruling party’s outlook

May 06, 2016

BRASILIA: A request by Brazil’s prosecutor general for a Supreme Court investigation of ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva raises the odds against the ruling Workers Party emerging from scandal in time for the 2018 presidential election, analysts said on Wednesday.

Already hurt by fallout from a massive corruption scheme, and impeachment proceedings against President

Dilma Rousseff, the leftist party is largely resigned to her removal.

Few believe she will escape conviction if the Senate votes next week to suspend her from office and open a trial over alleged budget irregularities, as expected.

But the Workers Party, in power since 2003, has long considered Lula its ace in the hole for future elections.

Rousseff’s mentor and a hero to millions of poor voters, Lula remained popular among many even as Brazil’s economy entered recession and prosecutors alleged that he may have benefited from kickbacks and obstructed justice in a probe into graft at state oil company Petrobras. The leftist icon has denied any wrongdoing.

But a request by the prosecutor to press charges against him at the Supreme Court - made public on Tuesday - escalates Lula’s legal problems, diminishing his ability to rally the party and mount a credible opposition to emboldened rivals.

According to documents made public on Tuesday, Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot has charged Lula with participating in a scheme to stop former Petrobras executive Nestor Cervero from collaborating with the sweeping investigation into political kickbacks at the state oil firm.

 

[Housecarl]

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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics-idUSKCN0XX1FK

World | Fri May 6, 2016 2:50pm EDT
Related: World

Brazil Senate committee votes for Rousseff to stand trial

BRASILIA | By Maria Carolina Marcello and Anthony Boadle


A Senate committee recommended on Friday that Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff be put on trial by the full chamber for breaking budget laws, moving a step closer to the likely suspension of the leftist leader from office next week.

Despite renewed promised by Rousseff on Friday to resist her removal, her chances for staying in office are dimming. Her departure would come at a time when a majority of Brazilians are against Rousseff because of an economic recession and a massive corruption scandal that has exposed wrongdoing by ruling party officials.

The full Senate is expected to vote to put her on trial on Wednesday, which would immediately suspend Rousseff for the duration of a trial that could last six months. During that period, Vice President Michel Temer would replace her as acting president.

The upper house committee voted 15-5 to accept the charges against Rousseff, which involve budget irregularities that critics say masked budget problems while she ran for re-election in 2014, and her opponents are certain to muster the simple majority needed to begin a trial.

"I will resist until the last day," Rousseff said at an event where she announced the delivery of low-cost housing. The president said she would not resign because she committed no crime, and called her looming ouster a "coup d'etat."

If the Senate convicts Rousseff, by a two-thirds majority vote to oust her, Temer would serve out the remainder of Rousseff's second term through 2018.

Local newspaper surveys say the opposition has 50 of the 54 votes needed, with many of the 10 undecided senators likely to favor her ouster.

Rousseff has struggled to survive politically in the face of Brazil's biggest ever corruption scandal and its worst recession since the 1930s. Her removal would mark an end to 13 years of leftist rule by the Workers Party that began in 2003 under her mentor, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

While Rousseff is not directly accused of corruption, Brazil's top prosecutor has asked for her to be investigated for obstructing justice in the kickback scandal that has engulfed state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA) and fueled Brazil's political crisis.

In a separate initiative launched by the opposition, Rousseff's 2014 re-election campaign is being investigated by an electoral court for alleged funding with bribe money.

At Rousseff's presidential palace Friday, officials had glum faces and appeared resigned to the end of her administration.

One aide denied they were packing up already, but added: "No doubt, we have to start organizing things."

Echoing the sense of an administration that has run out of time, no reporters showed up for a news conference called by Women Affairs Secretary Eleonora Menicucci, a close Rousseff aide. She ended up speaking only to a government television camera.

Rousseff's supporters on the Senate committee have called for annulment of the impeachment proceedings because the man who launched them last year, lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha, was himself removed from office on Thursday by the Supreme Court for obstructing the investigation of corruption accusations against him.

The top court has so far dismissed all government requests to halt the impeachment proceedings.

Workers Party Senator Lindbergh Farias said the ouster of Rousseff was aimed at undoing Lula's work to help the poor, and at rolling back workers' benefits, privatizing state companies and aligning Brazil's foreign policy closer to the United States.


(Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Maria Carolina Marcello; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Frances Kerry)

 

[Doomer Doug]

Brazil's version of Lying Ted Cruz. An evangelical Christian who takes five million dollar bribes. Sheesh.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics-idUSKCN0Y01S3

World | Mon May 9, 2016 3:04pm EDT
Related: World, Brazil

Brazilian lower house speaker annuls Rousseff impeachment; reprieve may be short

BRASILIA | By Anthony Boadle and Silvio Cascione


The impeachment process against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was annulled by the acting speaker of the lower house of Congress on Monday, but the stunning decision appeared likely to provide only a temporary reprieve for the leftist leader.

Just days before the Senate was expected to put Rousseff on trial, Waldir Maranhao said there were procedural flaws in a lower house vote on April 17 that approved the impeachment charges and the chamber would need to vote again.

His decision, which caught off-guard investors betting on a more business-friendly government taking power imminently, roiled Brazilian financial markets and plunged the impeachment process into confusion. However, markets quickly pared their losses as investors bet the move would delay rather than prevent Rousseff's removal from office.

Hours after Maranhao's decision was made public, an opposition party appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn it. Meanwhile, Senator Aecio Neves, an opposition leader who lost the 2014 election to Rousseff, called on the Senate to stick to its plan to vote this week on the president's trial.

Antonio Queiroz, head of the non-partisan Congressional research department, said Maranhao's move would not permanently derail the impeachment proceedings against Rousseff, who opponents accuse of breaking budget laws.

"It will just delay things," he told Reuters. "The Supreme Court will most likely overturn this decision by the acting speaker, or the plenary of the lower house will."

However, the development further complicated a political crisis that is fueling Brazil's worst recession in decades.

An ongoing investigation into a massive kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA) has ensnared dozens of top politicians and seen CEOs from Brazil's biggest construction firms jailed for paying billions in bribes in return for bloated building contracts.

Last week, Rousseff was for the first time caught up in the Petrobras case, when the prosecutor general requested the Supreme Court's permission to investigate her for allegedly obstructing the investigation.

But Rousseff has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing in the Petrobras case or having committed any crime that would warrant her impeachment. She has vowed from the beginning of the impeachment process to fight it by all means legally possible. It was not clear whether she had any idea that Monday's stunning development was in the works.

The bombshell came from a man who took over as acting speaker just last week when his predecessor Eduardo Cunha - who launched the impeachment process - was removed by the Supreme Court on corruption charges. Maranhao had broken with his center-right Progressive Party and voted against impeachment in last month's lower house vote.

After approval by the lower house, the impeachment process was passed to the Senate, where a Senate committee recommended on Friday that the president be put on trial by the full chamber for breaking budget laws.

But in a statement on Monday, Maranhao said the impeachment process should be returned by the Senate so that the lower house can vote again. Citing irregularities such as party leaders instructing their members which way to vote, he said a new vote would take place within five sessions after the case was returned by the Senate.

Until Monday's move, it had been widely expected that the full Senate would on Wednesday vote to place Rousseff on trial, which would result in her immediate suspension for up to six months. In that case, Vice President Michel Temer would step in as interim president, remaining in the post until elections in 2018 if she were found guilty and removed permanently.


MAY BE 'JUST A DELAY'

Win Thin, global head of emerging market currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York, said he believed Maranhao's surprise decision would not derail impeachment.

"It's just a delay," he said. "There's still plenty of votes in both houses to impeach, but it just supports what I've been warning for the last few weeks: which is that this process is not going to be fast and easy."

Rousseff, speaking at a event in the presidential palace, appeared surprised at the news of Maranhao's move, which came as she was speaking. The crowd broke out into wild cheers, but Rousseff cautioned them.

"It's not official and I do not know the consequences, so let's be cautious," she said to supporters.

Brazil's currency weakened as much as 5 percent and stocks tumbled after the announcement, before recovering much of their losses. Petrobras shares dropped as much as 12 percent, but were last trading down 6 percent.

The decision sparked rare signs of optimism in government ranks after weeks of setbacks.

Senator Humberto Costa, from Rousseff's ruling Workers Party, expressed optimism that her presidency would be saved, saying: "this is a first step towards getting the impeachment annulled permanently."


(Additional reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello; Writing by Brad Brooks; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Frances Kerry)

 

[Housecarl]

Reuters header...
Breaking News:

Majority of Brazil's Senate indicates it will vote to put President Rousseff on impeachment trial

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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics-idUSKCN0Y206H

World | Thu May 12, 2016 2:18am EDT
Related: World

Majority of Brazil's Senate to vote for Rousseff impeachment trial


A majority of Brazil's Senate indicated on Thursday it will vote to put President Dilma Rousseff on trial for breaking budget laws, signaling the end of 13 years of rule by the leftist Workers Party in Latin America's largest nation.

In a marathon session of speeches, 41 of the 81 senators had indicated by the early hours of Thursday morning that they would vote to put Rousseff on trial, a move that would suspend Brazil's first woman president.

The final vote, expected around dawn, would make Vice President Michel Temer acting president during her trial. The trial could last for up to six months.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Louise Ireland)

 

[Be Well]

Cool that in Brazil impeachment appears to mean the prez has to step down immediately. Wish it was so here.