Page 11 - Aruba Today
P. 11
WORLD NEWS A11
Saturday 19 March 2016
Judges knock down challenge to Brazil ex-president
STAN LEHMAN 2010, gathered in rallies
Associated Press
SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazil- across Brazil, particularly in
ian appeals court on Friday
slapped down a second the industrial south, where
attempt to block a Cabinet
post for former President the former factory worker
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
and tens of thousands of has his base.
supporters rallied to back
an embattled government In Sao Paulo, tens of thou-
facing a host of crises.
Silva was sworn in as chief sands gathered on Ave-
aide to President Dilma
Rousseff on Thursday, a nida Paulista in front of the
post that will let the char-
ismatic politician help the city’s art museum. Most
president battle an im-
peachment effort and one wore red T-shirts and caps
that also makes it harder
to investigate any possible and frequently chanted,
links to a corruption scan-
dal at the state oil com- “Lula, the minister of hope.”
pany.
Opponents quickly won in- “Lula, Dilma and the Work-
junctions from two regional
federal judges to block his er’s Party are the only ones
appointment, but both
were quickly overturned. who have helped the poor,
Later in the afternoon a
federal judge in the city gave us access to better
of Assis, Sao Paulo state
ordered a third injunction education, jobs and health
blocking Silva from assum-
ing his Cabinet post. care,” said Ronaldo Carlos Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva embrace during his
Supporters of Silva, who
was one of the world’s a 35-year-old private secu- swearing-in ceremony as the chief of staff, at the Planalto presidential palace, in Brasilia, Brazil.
most famous leaders as
president from 2003 to rity guard as he waved a A Brazilian appeals court on Friday slapped down a second attempt to block a Cabinet post for
red and white banner with da Silva. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Rousseff’s face and the
phrase “Dilma Stays” on it.
The political turmoil comes
as Brazil prepares to host
the Summer Olympics in
August and Latin Amer-
ica’s most populous na-
tion faces crises on several
fronts. The country is at the
center of an outbreak of
the Zika virus, which health
experts believe can cause
abnormally small heads in
newborns. And its econ-
omy, long an engine for
neighboring countries,
has sharply contracted by
nearly 4 percent.q
Venezuela top court approves
economic emergency powers
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) and triple-digit inflation.
— Venezuela’s Supreme Venezuela’s opposition
Court has approved Presi- accuses the government-
dent Nicolas Maduro’s stacked high court of over-
request for a 60-day ex- stepping its authority by
tension of an economic granting Maduro’s request.
emergency decree that Critics blame Maduro’s rig-
had been rejected by the id control of the economy
opposition-controlled con- for the crisis and have been
gress. pushing for his removal.
The high court issued its Since first being granted the
ruling late Thursday night, special powers in February,
giving Maduro expanded Maduro has devalued the
powers to rescue the South currency and raised the
American economy from a world’s cheapest gasoline
plunge in oil prices that has prices to help make up for
deepened a crisis marked a steep decline in govern-
by widespread shortages ment revenues. q
