Brazil President Face Impeachment

The political crisis in Brazil yesterday spiraled closer to a tipping point, with the government appearing at risk of implosion months before the Rio Summer Olympics begin. President Dilma Rousseff’s odds of being impeached appear stronger than ever now that the country’s largest political party said it’s pulling out of her coalition government. The latest crisis began when federal police took Lula da Silva in for questioning as part of a long-running corruption investigation. A few days later, Rousseff, his handpicked successor and protégé, named him chief of staff, a move that largely protects him from prosecution. That appointment prompted massive street protests. A legal battle has ensued trying to block Lula da Silva’s appointment while efforts to impeach the President have gained momentum. Rousseff won a second term in 2014, but she’s battled controversy since.
A corruption investigation into a multimillion-dollar kickback scheme at the state-run oil company Petrobras has embroiled dozens of the country’s leading businessmen and politicians. Rousseff was the chairwoman of Petrobras during many of the years of the alleged corruption. But she denied the allegations. If impeaching proceedings move forward, they would essentially freeze Rousseff’s government for 180 days while the President fights these efforts. During that time, a caretaker government would step in — possibly headed by the vice president, assuming he doesn’t resign. All this uncertainty comes as Brazil grapples with its longest economic downturn since the 1930s. Brazil is also ground zero for the Zika virus, which the World Health Organization says “is now spreading explosively.” Brazil has reported more than 4, 000 cases of microcephaly, a neurological disorder in which babies are born with small heads, in infants born to women infected with Zika while pregnant.