The legislative body voted in May to begin impeachment proceedings against Rousseff, who stepped aside from her administration.
Advertisement
Brazil’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff’s fate seems to be all but sealed.
A verdict is expected at the end of the month.
After the declaration of the witnesses, the senators will condemn or acquit Rousseff and 54 of 81 senators’ votes are necessary to confirm the impeachment.
With the eyes of the world on the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, senators in the capital, Brasilia, voted 59 to 21 against Rousseff in a raucous, 20-hour session presided over by Brazilian Supreme Court President Ricardo Lewandowski.
Thereafter, additional recordings were revealed, featuring Temer’s anti-corruption czar advising another PMDB ally, Senate leader Renan Calheiros, on how to sidestep the auto wash corruption probe.
Rousseff’s rival and interim successor Michel Temer is fighting to steer the country out of crisis, but is unpopular.
He was greeted with “boos” at the opening of the Olympic games in Rio.
But she has been tainted by the Petrobras stain on her Workers’ Party, which is accused of lining its coffers with some of the missing billions.
It’s a bit hard to justify the removal of democratically elected President by citing corruption, when far more serious corruption scandals are engulfing the person eager to replace her along with his closest associates.
Temer, Rousseff’s conservative former vice president, has urged senators to wrap up the trial quickly so he can move ahead with a plan to cap public spending and enact pension reforms in hopes of restoring investor confidence in government finances.
“She failed to keep her campaign promises, didn’t pay enough attention to her coalition, ignored her own party and didn’t listen to anyone”.
Rousseff’s critics say her interventionist economic policies and inability to govern led to the debacle in Latin America’s largest country, and she should not be allowed to return.
As in Argentina and other countries, that tide appears to have turned in Brazil. “The left will have to endure the blow”, said Eduardo Pereira, 51, a teacher, referring to the impeachment.
Opponents say Rousseff intentionally did that to made the economy look healthy – in reality, it was heading toward the worst recession Brazil’s had in decades.
The Vermont senator’s “denunciation of the attack on Brazilian democracy is part of a growing global recognition of the illegitimacy of Temer’s rule”, Glenn Greenwald wrote at The Intercept.
The 68-year-old Rousseff is a rarity in Brazil, one of the few politicians not implicated in a major corruption scandal.
Temer also hopes to be confirmed as president in time to attend the summit of the G20 group of leading world economies in China on September 4, Freitas told Reuters.
Advertisement
“It is nearly impossible for Rousseff to bounce back, and I think she knows it”.
