Back in August, we said that while there are all kinds of charts one could look at on the way to judging just how bad things have truly gotten in Brazil, the most important graphic of all may indeed be this one, which depicts the scope of the various street protests that took place in the country last year.
Popular discontent with President Dilma Rousseff has waxed and waned over the last six months along with the prospects for the opposition’s impeachment bid. At times, it looked like Rousseff might be on her way out, but political wrangling and questions about whether House Speaker Eduardo Cunha – the lawmaker pushing hardest for the President’s ouster- accepted bribes complicated the process.
As Bloomberg wrote earlier this week, a string of recent events tied to the seemingly never-ending Carwash Probe – the 2-year long investigation into corruption involving Petrobras – have brought prosecutors ever closer to Rousseff. That, combined with the fact that the country is mired in a deep economic downturn characterized by double-digit inflation and soaring unemployment has the public at wit’s end.
‘On Feb. 22, Rousseff’s top campaign strategist, Joo Santana, was arrested for allegedly receiving $7.5 million, [then] the magazine IstoE reported that the government’s former leader in the senate, Delcdio do Amaral, had alleged that Rousseff had pushed judges to release political allies imprisoned on charges of graft,’ Bloomberg recounted. Finally, former President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva was held for questioning and five days later, he was charged with money laundering.
This post was published at Zero Hedge on 03/13/2016.
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