Brazil's Rousseff says impeachment aimed at corruption probe

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Brazil's Rousseff says impeachment aimed at corruption probe

MAURICIO SAVARESE
May 29, 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Suspended President Dilma Rousseff said in an interview published Sunday that leaked audio recordings of men backing her impeachment show the effort to oust her is meant to stop a wide-ranging corruption probe that has implicated numerous leading Brazilian politicians and businessmen.

Rousseff told the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo the revelation of the recordings gives her hope of returning to office. She was suspended early this month pending a Senate impeachment trial. Her now-estranged vice president, Michel Temer, is serving as interim leader.

Recordings of three politicians of Temer's Brazilian Democratic Movement Party appear to link her ouster to attempts to limit the investigation. Those involved dispute that interpretation, and there is no evidence so far that they have stalled the probe.

"The dialogues show that the real cause for my impeachment was an attempt to obstruct the 'Car Wash' operation," Rousseff said, referring to the name of the corruption investigation at state-run oil giant Petrobras. "It was all made by those who thought that, without changing the government, the bleeding (of politicians) would continue."

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/brazils-rousseff-says-impeachment-aimed-corruption-probe-170057027.html?nhp=1

[mtasselin]

1. bullshit

This bullshit is brought to you by the neoliberals of America. This is nothing more than a coup so these assholes only believe in democracy when they win, but lets hope the people of Brazil see through and put her back in office.

[13Dogs]

2. Agreed

Right wing A holes are trying the same thing in Venezuela....more examples of treason from conservatives....they'll do anything to keep themselves in power and money including subverting the will of the people, democracy be damned...they're greed is like a virulent form of cancer, the only hope is to eradicate any influence they have, and unfortunately the US government which is now controlled by corporations is supporting these Fascists

[L. Coyote]

3. #BrazilCoup - Actually, they don't believe in democracy, they love plutocratic kleptocracy.

The amount of wealth they are stealing is astounding, the Amazon rain forest and all the minerals in Brazil are theirs now. This MUST be reversed ASAP. I hate war, but I's take up arms to stop this.[center]

Fight Against Brazil Coup Is Now to Be 'Fire Against Fire'

Recordings put pressure on allies of Brazil's acting leader

#BrazilCoup

Luciana Bianchi ?@LucianaBianchi 3 hours ago
Pathetic right wing newspaper #Estadao bullying great journalist @ggreenwald for exposing the truth abt #brazilcoup - Dark Ages in Brazil!

AVS ?@Myavstech
This isn’t playing word games- this is you being played #BrazilCoup #BrazilNeedsSkills

[Judi Lynn]

4. This illustration should not be missed. It's perfect. Thanks for sharing your links. n/t

[uhnope]

7. AmerSux Program TP#24

[Judi Lynn]

5. The Brazilian Coup and Washington's "Rollback" in Latin America

The Brazilian Coup and Washington's "Rollback" in Latin America
Sunday, 29 May 2016 00:00
By Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic and Policy Research

It is clear that the executive branch of the U.S. government favors the coup underway in Brazil, even though they have been careful to avoid any explicit endorsement of it. Exhibit A was the meeting between Tom Shannon, the 3rd ranking U.S. State Department official and the one who is almost certainly in charge of handling this situation, with Senator Aloysio Nunes, one of the leaders of the impeachment in the Brazilian Senate, on April 20. By holding this meeting just three days after the Brazilian lower house voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, Shannon was sending a signal to governments and diplomats throughout the region and the world that Washington is more than ok with the impeachment. Nunes returned the favor this week by leading an effort (he is chair of the Brazilian Senate Foreign Relations Committee) to suspend Venezuela from Mercosur, the South American trade bloc.

There is a lot at stake here for the major U.S. foreign policy institutions, which include the 17 intelligence agencies, State Department, Pentagon, White House National Security Council, and foreign policy committees of the Senate and House. An enormous geopolitical shift took place over the past 15 years, in which the Latin American left went from governing zero countries to a majority of the region. For various historical reasons, the left in Latin America tends to favor national independence and international solidarity, and is therefore less willing to go along with U.S. foreign policy. I remember the first time I saw Lula Da Silva. It was in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2002. He was speaking to a crowd at the World Social Forum, and standing under a huge banner that said "Say No to Imperialist War in Iraq."

Lula is a good diplomat, and he maintained a good personal relationship with George W. Bush during their overlapping presidencies. But he changed the foreign policy of Brazil, and contributed to the regional development of an independent foreign policy. In 2005 at Mar del Plata, Argentina, the left governments buried the U.S.-sponsored "Free Trade Area of the Americas," thus putting an end to the American dream of a hemispheric commercial agreement based on rules designed in Washington. Brazil under the Workers' Party also strongly backed Venezuela against U.S. attempts to isolate, destabilize, and even topple its government. Lula's first foreign trip after his re-election in 2006 was to Venezuela, where he supported President Hugo Chávez in his own re-election campaign. The Workers' Party(PT) government also supported regional efforts to overturn the U.S.-backed military coup in Honduras, and successfully opposed the expansion of U.S. access to military bases in Colombia in 2009. And many in the U.S. foreign policy establishment (including then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) did not appreciate the Brazilian government's role in helping to arrange a nuclear fuel swap arrangement to settle the dispute with Iran in 2010, despite the fact that it was actually done at Washington's suggestion.

Washington's Cold War never ended in Latin America, and now they see their opportunity for "rollback." Brazil is a big prize, as is evidenced by the new foreign minister in the interim government. He is José Serra, who ran unsuccessfully for president against first Lula (2002) and Dilma (2010), and is expected to use his current position -- if this government survives -- as a springboard for a third shot at the presidency.

In his 2010 presidential campaign, Serra went to unusual lengths to demonstrate his loyalty to Washington. He accused the Bolivian government of Evo Morales of being an accomplice to drug traffickers and attacked Lula's government for its attempts to resolve the nuclear standoff with Iran. He also criticized them for joining the rest of the region in refusing to recognize the post-coup Honduran government, and campaigned against Venezuela as well.

More:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/36224-the-brazilian-coup-and-washington-s-rollback-in-latin-america

Good Reads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016158822

[uhnope]

8. what a load of codswallop

[L. Coyote]

6. k n'r

[L. Coyote]

9. Recording Spurs Anticorruption Minister to Resign in Brazil

Oooophsie, the guy in charge of rooting out corruption is one of the corrupt bastards. Why, the corrupt bastards took over the government, of course!

Recording Spurs Anticorruption Minister to Resign in Brazil
SIMON ROMEROMAY 30, 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO — The anticorruption minister of Brazil’s interim president, Michel Temer, resigned Monday night after a secret recording seemed to show that he tried to stymie the sweeping corruption investigation revolving around Petrobras, the national oil company.

The fall of Fabiano Silveira, whose title was minister of transparency, dealt another blow to a government that seems to limp from one scandal to the next just weeks after Mr. Temer replaced Dilma Rousseff. Ms. Rousseff was suspended as president to face claims of budgetary manipulation in an impeachment trial.

One of Mr. Temer’s top aides, Romero Jucá, stepped down last week as planning minister after another recording indicated that their centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or P.M.D.B., had sought Ms. Rousseff’s ouster to thwart the inquiry into the Petrobras graft scheme.

In an increasingly paranoid atmosphere in the capital, Brasília, members of the country’s political and business elite are secretly recording one another with the aim of reaching plea deals. .....

So, how many more recordings will surface?