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WORLD NEWSFriday 15 April 2016
3 parties abandon Brazil president as impeachment vote nears
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff speaks during a meeting at the Planalto Presidential Palace, in 22 legislators made it that ness executives.
Brasilia, Brazil. Rousseff’s chances of surviving impeachment are growing slimmer now that three much harder for Rousseff The president appeared
parties have decamped from her governing coalition in 24 hours. to defeat the vote. simultaneously defiant and
In a rare bit of positive conciliatory Wednesday,
(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) news for the government, sketching out her plans for
leaders of the Democratic “once this page has been
J. BARCHFIELD centrist parties caused de- send the proceedings to Labor Party pledged to turned.” Speaking at an
M. SAVARESE spondency among mem- the Senate for a possible cast their party’s 20 votes event about the modern-
Associated Press bers of Rousseff’ left-lean- trial. According to a tally by against impeachment. ization of Brazil’s port in-
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — ing Workers’ Party ahead the newspaper Folha de S. But the loss of three more frastructure, she pledged
President Dilma Rousseff’s of the vote expected Paulo, 284 legislators have parties was a blow for that “starting next week,”
chances of surviving im- Sunday in the Chamber come out for impeach- the governing coalition, her administration would
peachment are growing of Deputies. That vote will ment, while 114 are op- coming about two weeks reach out to even its foes
slimmer now that three par- determine whether the im- posed and 115 are unde- after the Brazilian Demo- in a bid to get the country
ties have decamped from peachment process moves cided. While the outcome cratic Movement Party, back on track.
her governing coalition in ahead based on allega- is still too close to call, the the country’s largest party, Ricardo Berzoini, Brazil’s
24 hours and Brazilian leg- tions that Rousseff’s admin- pullouts by the majority also quit. It has 66 deputies political affairs minister and
islators begin preparing for istration violated fiscal rules. of the 36 deputies for the in the lower house. a Rousseff ally, said at a
a crucial vote on the ques- The pro-impeachment Social Democratic Party, “Ministers close to Dilma news conference that the
tion expected this week- camp needs two-thirds of the Progressive Party with believe the battle against government could file a
end. the 513 votes in the low- 47 deputies and the Brazil- impeachment is virtually request for the Supreme
The pullouts of the mid-size er house, or 342 votes, to ian Republican Party with lost,” Monica Bergamo, a Court to intervene in the
respected political colum- impeachment effort later
nist for Folha de S. Paulo, Wednesday or Thursday.
wrote Wednesday. “Not all “We can’t play around
of them have definitively with democracy,” he said.
thrown in the towel, but the Berzoini also said Rousseff
consensus is that the gov- is meeting with lawmakers
ernment is going through one on one to make her
its worst moment.” case. Chamber of Depu-
Rousseff has seen her ap- ties officials announced
proval ratings tumble amid the order in which votes
the worst recession in de- are to be cast in Sunday’s
cades, a spike in both job- vote, which is in line with
lessness and inflation, and a plan by Speaker Eduar-
a sprawling probe of cor- do Cunha, a Rousseff foe
ruption at the state-run en- who has been the driving
ergy company Petrobras, force behind impeach-
which over the past two ment. The vote will begin
years has ensnared dozens with representatives from
of top politicians across the Brazil’s southern states,
political spectrum as well which tend to be strongly
as some of Brazil’s richest anti-Rousseff, and work up
and most powerful busi- to the largely pro-govern-
ment states at the end, in
Colombia: an apparent bid to create
the impression of an un-
First cases of birth defects tied to Zika confirmed stoppable wave of support
for impeachment.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — es remain under analysis Zika has been related to that there’s no doubt Zika The newspaper O Globo
Colombia has confirmed while 16 cases have been a surge in babies born in Rio de Janeiro said that
the first two cases of a rare ruled out for any relation to with small heads in Brazil. is a cause of the birth de- under that system, the first
birth defect associated the virus. The government Despite the virus’ spread deputy to vote would be
with the spread of Zika. agency said that one case across Latin America, no fects. Afonso Hamm, a Progres-
The National Institute of was in Norte de Santander cases of microcephaly sive Party legislator from
Health on Thursday said department near the bor- have been discovered Colombian authorities the southern Rio Grande
that of the 33 cases of mi- der with Venezuela and elsewhere until now except do Sul state. Hamm is un-
crocephaly reported so far the other in the lowland for one case involving a have been on the lookout der investigation by Brazil’s
this year, two have been areas near the capital, Bo- baby in Panama Supreme Court for alleged
confirmed to have been gota. No other details were The announcement comes for a rise in microcephaly involvement in the sprawl-
caused by the mosquito- provided out of respect for a day after the Centers for ing corruption investigation
borne virus. Another 15 cas- the families’ privacy. Disease Control confirmed ever since the epidemic hit at the state-run Petrobras
oil company.q
Brazil. But authorities say the
33 cases of microcephaly
reported in the country so
far in 2016 don’t represent
a statistical aberration from
previous years.q
