Page 11 - ATD16APRIL2016
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WORLD NEWS A11
Saturday 16 April 2016
Brazil’s lower house begins presidential impeachment debateÂ
JENNY BARCHFIELD Brazil’s Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo, backed by posters behind that say in Portuguese Petrobras, as well as other
Associated Press “Impeachment without a crime is a coup,†defends Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff during a de- schemes.
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — The bate on impeaching her in the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday, April 15, 2016. On Friday, a report in the
lower chamber of Brazil’s respected Estado de S.
Congress on Friday be- (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) Paulo newspaper quoted
gan a raucous debate plea bargain testimony as
on whether to impeach that isn’t a crime?†Junior suggesting Cunha had re-
President Dilma Rousseff, a told the body. ceived more than $4 mil-
question that underscores Solicitor General Jose Edu- lion in bribes as part of a
the deep polarization in ardo Cardozo contended Rio de Janeiro port reno-
Latin America’s largest exactly that, warning law- vation project tied to the
country and most-powerful makers in his impassioned August Olympics. The re-
economy. speech before the cham- port said Ricardo Pernam-
If lawmakers approved the ber that because Rousseff buco Junior, of the Carioca
measure in a vote slated hadn’t committed any Engenharia construction
for Sunday, it gets sent to crime, her impeachment company, told investiga-
the Senate, where an im- would constitute an act tors the company paid
peachment trial could take of “violence without prec- Cunha 1.5 percent of the
place, prompting the presi- edent†against democracy deal in kickbacks. The re-
dent’s suspension from of- and the Brazilian people. port included spreadsheets
fice. “Violence has been com- that appeared to show the
The atmosphere in the mitted against the demo- company funneled pay-
lower Chamber of Depu- cratic state,†Cardozo outs amounting to more
ties was electric, as Rous- shouted, gesticulating wild- than $4 million to Cunha
seff’s critics festooned ly. through several accounts
themselves with yellow and Flanked by supporters abroad. qÂ
green ribbons and bran- holding signs showing the
dished placards reading constitution being ripped
“Impeachment Now!†apart, Cardozo insisted the
Lawmakers backing im- whole process was an act
peachment allege Rous- of personal vengeance
seff’s administration violat- against Rousseff by the
ed fiscal rules, using sleight house Speaker Eduardo
of hand accounting in a Cunha.
bid to shore up public sup- The driving force behind
port. However, many of the impeachment, Cunha
those pushing for impeach- has been implicated in the
ment face grave accusa- so-called Car Wash probe
tions of corruption them- into corruption at Brazil’s
selves, prompting Rousseff state-run oil company
and her supporters to de-
cry the whole process as a
bold-faced power grab by
her foes.
Rousseff’s defenders in-
sist she did nothing illegal,
pointing out that similar ac-
counting techniques were
used by previous presi-
dents.
Miguel Reale Junior, author
of the impeachment peti-
tion, said Rousseff’s maneu-
vering directly led to the ills
plaguing the recession-hit
nation today, such as high
inflation and the Brazil-
ian real’s precipitous slide
against the U.S. dollar in re-
cent months.
“Are you going to tell me