NYT - The Ousting of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Constitutes a Coup

[OBenario]

Published by The New York Times.
Written by Laura Carvalho - professor of economics at the University of São Paulo and a columnist for the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo.

In Brazil, as in the United States, unpopular or incompetent presidents cannot be forced to resign by a simple "no confidence" vote by the legislature.

An impeachment process is a juridical-political trial reserved for a crime of responsibility attributed to the president. But the ousting of a president as the sole result of a shift in the political balance of a coalition government can only be seen as a parliamentary coup.

The impeachment process of President Dilma Rousseff started as a retaliation by the speaker of Brazil’s lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, indicted for taking as much as $40 million in a kickback scheme at the state-owned oil company Petrobras. Cunha, whose name is also tied to the Panama Papers, initiated the impeachment process shortly after a public announcement by government allies that they would not stop investigations in the Congressional ethics committee that could lead to his removal.

The first focuses on delays in transferring resources to public banks. The funds for payment of social benefits were held back, presumably to hide the fiscal deficit. These delays have happened for years, but in 2014, fiscal regulators condemned the practice based on its higher frequency and length. The government responded to the new jurisprudence by changing its behavior in 2015.

The second accusation is about budgetary decrees allegedly incompatible with the 2015 fiscal target. Amid dramatic budget cuts, such decrees have only reassigned spending limits in particular policies, without allowing for a total increase in each ministry's expenditures.

None of these accusations, which the news media has purposefully kept unknown to the majority of Brazilians, is sufficient to support a crime of responsibility. Lawmakers aiming to avoid corruption charges, political leaders looking for shortcuts to power, and representatives of the corporate sector with well-known financial interests, are taking advantage of the genuine concerns of the population when it comes to systemic corruption.

Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/04/18/in-brazil-a-house-cleaning-or-a-coup/the-ousting-of-brazilian-president-dilma-rousseff-constitutes-a-coup

Dilma Rousseff is being punished for a practice which was never considered a crime under Brazilian law and that every president, governor and mayor have done for the latest 80 years - and CONTINUE to do. Not only that: the law was forbidding this kind of fiscal manipulation was created in 2015, and since then the government stopped the practices. But Dilma was punished for the "crimes" commited before the law existed. And, AGAIN, she was the ONLY POLITICIAN in Brazil punished by such law, even though thousands have done the same.

This is a coup.

And who supports this should be ashamed.

[Judi Lynn]

1. You're so right. Those who support it are unable, unwilling to admit their treachery.

They are morally depraved.

It is wonderful that Laura Carvalho's article was published by the New York Times. They used to be considered above reproach, but they have been overly supportive of some horrible right-wing policy since Ronald Reagan, and George W Bush, etc. That's what makes it so important that they made the decision to publish this piece by Laura Carvalho.

I have saved this thread for future reference. It is an important writing to keep on hand.

Thank you for catching this, and sharing it here.