Defiant Brazilian Prez looks up to allies for survival

TEMER DEFIANT: I WON’T RESIGN

Brazilian President Michel Temer fought back against growing calls for his resignation on Friday after bombshell graft allegations left him depending on congressional allies for survival. The center-right President was holed up at the presidential palace and was scheduled to meet later in the day with his defence minister Raul Jungmann and military commanders in an apparent show of authority despite the crisis.

But Temer, who just a few days ago was celebrating his claim to have begun lifting Brazil from a punishing recession, is now hanging on by his fingernails.

A secretly recorded conversation between Temer and a business executive purports to show the President approving payment of hush money to former lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha, who is in prison after being convicted of bribe-taking.

The allegation was first published by Brazil’s powerful Globo media organization and on Thursday, the Supreme Court opened a formal investigation.

Temer angrily insisted on national television that he will not resign. However, opponents piled on the pressure, with eight impeachment requests filed in Congress.

Late Thursday, he expressed confidence that he can keep his congressional alliance together, preventing impeachment proceedings.

“No one has come to ask me to resign. On the contrary, they’re all asking me to resist. I will resist,” he told Globo news site. “I will get out of this crisis more rapidly than you think.”

That’s not what his opponents think.

Temer’s conservative government has angered millions of Brazilians with its ambitious austerity reforms, which include the planned raising of the retirement age to fix the country’s unaffordable pension system.

Temer says the reforms are already helping to end a two-year recession, but with 13.7 per cent unemployment many Brazilians do not feel the supposed improvements.

◗ A secretly recorded conversation between Temer and a business executive purports to show the President approving payment of hush money to former lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha, who is in jail after being convicted of bribe-taking