Page 11 - ATD16APRIL2016

WORLD NEWS A11
Brazil’s lower house begins presidential impeachment debateÂ
JENNY BARCHFIELD
Associated Press
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — The
lower chamber of Brazil’s
Congress on Friday be-
gan a raucous debate
on whether to impeach
President Dilma Rousseff, a
question that underscores
the deep polarization in
Latin America’s largest
country and most-powerful
economy.
If lawmakers approved the
measure in a vote slated
for Sunday, it gets sent to
the Senate, where an im-
peachment trial could take
place, prompting the presi-
dent’s suspension from of-
fice.
The atmosphere in the
lower Chamber of Depu-
ties was electric, as Rous-
seff’s critics festooned
themselves with yellow and
green ribbons and bran-
dished placards reading
“Impeachment Now!”
Lawmakers backing im-
peachment allege Rous-
seff’s administration violat-
ed fiscal rules, using sleight
of hand accounting in a
bid to shore up public sup-
port. However, many of
those pushing for impeach-
ment face grave accusa-
tions of corruption them-
selves, prompting Rousseff
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
Saturday 16 April 2016

Brazil’s Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo, backed by posters behind that say in Portuguese Petrobras, as well as other
“Impeachment without a crime is a coup,” defends Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff during a de- schemes.
bate on impeaching her in the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday, April 15, 2016. On Friday, a report in the
respected Estado de S.
(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) Paulo newspaper quoted
plea bargain testimony as
that isn’t a crime?” Junior suggesting Cunha had re-
told the body. ceived more than $4 mil-
Solicitor General Jose Edu- lion in bribes as part of a
ardo Cardozo contended Rio de Janeiro port reno-
exactly that, warning law- vation project tied to the
makers in his impassioned August Olympics. The re-
speech before the cham- port said Ricardo Pernam-
ber that because Rousseff buco Junior, of the Carioca
hadn’t committed any Engenharia construction
crime, her impeachment company, told investiga-
would constitute an act tors the company paid
of “violence without prec- Cunha 1.5 percent of the
edent” against democracy deal in kickbacks. The re-
and the Brazilian people. port included spreadsheets
“Violence has been com- that appeared to show the
mitted against the demo- company funneled pay-
cratic state,” Cardozo outs amounting to more
shouted, gesticulating wild- than $4 million to Cunha
ly. through several accounts
Flanked by supporters abroad. qÂ
holding signs showing the
constitution being ripped
apart, Cardozo insisted the
whole process was an act
of personal vengeance
against Rousseff by the
house Speaker Eduardo
Cunha.
The driving force behind
the impeachment, Cunha
has been implicated in the
so-called Car Wash probe
into corruption at Brazil’s
state-run oil company