‘My opponents have gone crazy, [but] let them come for me. I will hang on to power until the final day’ — Nicolas Maduro
The history of postcolonial Latin American politics is replete with examples of turmoil and unrest and it now appears as though we may see not one but two coups before the end of the calendar year. The quote above is from Venezuela’s hapless autocrat who is desperately clinging to power by selling the country’s impoverished citizens on his own fantasy wherein Caracas is locked in an epic ideological struggle with Washington.
To the south, there’s a far more serious (in terms of ramifications for the global economy) drama playing out. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is locked in a battle for her political life and for the survival of the Worker’s Party, the leftist movement founded by her mentor and former President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva.
Rousseff could be impeached as early as May on charges that she cooked the fiscal books in 2014 in the lead up to elections. The President is also attempting to dispel the notion that she was in any way involved in bribery and corruption at Petrobras, where she was chairman. So far, the car wash probe – which is being conducted by ‘rockstar’ judge Sergio Moro – hasn’t reached the presidential palace’s doorstep, but Rousseff feared that might change when Lula was detained earlier this month. The former President’s arrest came after Senator Delcdio do Amaral delivered damaging testimony against Rousseff as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
This post was published at Zero Hedge on 03/23/2016.
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