Just 84 days away from the start of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is coping with major political fallout as the Senate has voted to impeach and suspend the country’s president.
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Rousseff ignited the Olympic flame in Brazil’s capital last week, but she will now watch the Olympics from the sidelines.
In addition to the gaping deficit, equal to more than 10 percent of its annual economic output, Brazil is suffering from rising unemployment, plummeting investment and a projected economic contraction of more than 3 percent this year. The vote forced Rousseff to stand down immediately for at least 180 while her vice president takes over with a new cabinet.
Hours earlier, a almost 22-hour debate in the Senate closed with an overwhelming 55-22 vote against Rousseff, as pro-impeachment senators burst into applause and posed for selfies and congratulatory group photos. I am being the target, a victim of a great injustice.
But lurking behind the official charges is the widespread malaise over the economy as well as the continuing aftershocks of a massive corruption and kickback scandal involving the oil giant Petrobras which has ensnared an array of top political figures including many from Ms Rousseff’s own party. Rousseff has previously accused Temer of being the “chief and vice-chief of a coup”.
Boulos also said that “those who believe that the Senate’s move will pacify the country, will have the answer on the streets” because the mobilisations will be intensified throughout the country.
The final tally was especially troubling for Rousseff since it is already one vote clear of the two-thirds majority needed to remove her from office permanently at the end of her trial.
Before bidding farewell, Rousseff once again slammed the impeachment process as a coup but said her supporters had helped her overcome a very sad day both for herself personally and for Brazilian democracy.
But like other leftist leaders across the region, Rousseff discovered that the party, after four consecutive terms, overstayed its welcome, especially as commodities prices plummeted and her increasingly unpopular government failed to sustain economic growth.
Temer vowed to fight corruption and maintain the wide reaching investigation into graft, though critics worry he will use his power to undermine investigations into the country’s political and business elite.
Mr. Temer took the helm a few hours after Ms. Rousseff stepped down to face an impeachment trial in the Senate.
Temer himself has been implicated – though never charged or arrested – in the Petrobras probe. An immediate goal is a reform of Brazil’s costly pension system, possibly setting a minimum age for retirement, said one advisor. Former House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, who had been second in line, was suspended from office this month over allegations of obstruction of justice and corruption.
A spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Ban trusts that Brazilian authorities will adhere to the rule of law and the constitution.
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Associated Press writer Jenny Barchfield reported this story in Brasilia and AP writer Mauricio Savarese reported from Rio de Janeiro.
