Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY 29August2015

A12
WORLD NEWSSaturday 29 August 2015
Brazil’s Rousseff faces growing impeachment threat
BRAD BROOKS
Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — If
the worst economic cri-
sis in a decade, a massive
corruption scandal cen-
tered on her ruling party
and approval ratings in the
single digits weren’t rough
enough for Brazilian Presi-
dent Dilma Rousseff, she’s
now faced with an angry
rival who controls the possi-
bility of impeachment pro-
ceedings against her.
Eduardo Cunha, the pow-
erful speaker of Brazil’s
lower house of Congress,
is Rousseff’s sworn enemy
and has been charged by
her attorney general with
taking millions in bribes in
connection with a sprawl-
ing corruption scandal
at state-run oil company
Petrobras.
He’s also the man who can
call for an impeachment
vote in the Chamber of
Deputies against the presi-
dent, an action that two-
thirds of Brazilians say they
want to see happen, ac-
cording to polls.
“Dilma is walking on the
high wire without a net,”
said Eliane Cantanhede,
one of Brazil’s best-known
political commentators
for the Estado de S. Paulo
newspaper and Globo
television. “Nobody knows
what Cunha is going to
do, and this situation is a
double-edged sword for
Dilma.”
Mexico adoption-for-cash scheme took babies from mothers
MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A
child welfare official in
northern Mexico took at
least nine babies from poor
or drug-addicted mothers
and offered them to adop-
tive parents in exchange
for payments ranging from
$5,000 to $9,000, authorities from years back, and some
said Friday. Raul Ramirez,
the head of the govern-
ment human rights com-
mission in the border state
of Sonora, said the scheme
apparently went on for
years and may involve
many more children.
“They searched for vulner-
able mothers, poor people
Cunha, who has openly
said he’ll block important
economic and political
reform measures Rous-
seff wants to push through
Congress, was weakened
after federal prosecutors
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff waves to the press in Brasilia, Brazil. If the worst economic crisis in
a decade, a massive corruption scandal centered on her ruling party and approval ratings in the
single digits weren’t rough enough for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, she’s now faced with an
angry rival who controls the possibility of impeachment proceedings against her.
charged him last week with
corruption, which “may be
good for Dilma, because
he’s losing the political
backing to push through
impeachment,” Cantan-
hede said.
“But as a weakened figure,
he also becomes a political
suicide bomber, because
or those who had problems
of drug addiction, and
took away their babies and
offered them in adoption in
return for money,” Ramirez
said.
Three of the babies have
been identified and re-
covered, but Ramirez said
“there may be many more,
of these children could be
20 years old by now.”
The problem, he noted is
that “the children have de-
veloped affection for their
(adoptive) parents, and
now they’re crying for their listing them as the biologi-
parents.”
All the children were ap-
parently adopted by Mexi-
nobody knows what he’ll
tell prosecutors,” she add-
ed. “Nobody knows what
he knows.”
A few months ago, most
analysts said the threat
of impeachment against
Rousseff was only a distant
possibility.
She’s not been accused of
wrongdoing in the Petro-
bras case, in which dozens
of federal deputies, sena-
tors and other top political
figures are under investiga-
tion, along with some CEOs
of Brazil’s top construction
can couples.
The state prosecutors’ of-
fice said the main suspect,
Vladimir Arzate, 30, worked
in the office of the state
prosecutor for child pro-
tection. The office had the
power to take in at-risk chil- been issued, which appear
dren, but would have had
to turn them over to a child
welfare agency.
Instead, Arzate is accused
of working in collusion with
a doctor, who would deliv-
er fake birth certificates for child trafficking or child
the stolen babies under the
adoptive parents’ names,
cal parents.
Ramirez said many of the
babies went to middle-
and engineering firms who is looking into whether she
are already jailed. Prosecu- illegally used money from
tors allege the kickback state banks to fill budget
scheme involved roughly holes in 2014, and Brazil’s
$2 billion in bribes paid by top electoral court is inves-
companies in return for tigating if any of the Petro-
grossly inflated building bras kickback money was
used to fund her re-elec-
tion campaign last year,
in which she won a nar-
row victory. If wrongdoing
is found in either instance,
that immediately opens
(AP Photo/Joedson Alves) a strong legal avenue for
her opponents to begin im-
contracts over more than a peachment proceedings
decade. But with an econ- against her in Congress.
omy in recession, along “Right now, I’d say the
with growing inflation and chance of seeing impeach-
unemployment, Rousseff ment proceedings is about
has the worst approval rat- 50-50,” said Marcos Troyjo,
ing for any president since a professor of international
Brazil’s return to democ- affairs at Columbia Univer-
racy in 1985. Additionally, sity who runs its BRICs lab
the top federal audit court in Rio and is a former Bra-
zilian diplomat. “And if you
ask me tomorrow, those
chances for impeachment
may have grown.”
The “single most important
element to determining
whether impeachment
goes forward” is what hap-
pens to Cunha, Troyjo said.
Cunha has two weeks to
present his rebuttal to Bra-
zil’s Supreme Court, which
alone can decide whether
or not he will stand trial on
the charges brought by the
Attorney General Rodrigo
Janot. Even so, he could
remain in office until and
if he’s found guilty, a rul-
ing that could take many
years.q
class or upper-middle-class long. Apparently, few of
families desperate to adopt the biological parents had
and avoid the lengthy, contacted authorities seek-
complex process that rules ing the return of the chil-
adoptions in Mexico. dren.
The prosecutors’ office said Ramirez said one possible
16 arrest warrants have biological grandmother
had contacted the office.
to cover some of the adop- Local media cited the story
tive parents. of a farmworker whose son
Since none of the children was taken from a local hos-
appear to have been pital after she brought him
abused, prosecutors are in for treatment of heat-
charging the suspects with stroke.
Ramirez suggested more
theft. Those charges are officials or doctors may
punishable by 15½ to 40 have been involved.
years in prison. “The big losers here are
The question remains as to the children,” said state
how the scheme was al- Attorney General Carlos
lowed to operate for so Navarro.q