Leftists plan protests as Temer ally meets amid Brazil crisis
BRASILIA: Leftist groups plan protests across Brazil on Sunday to demand the resignation of President Michel Temer and the holding of new elections in the wake of an explosive corruption scandal.
The demonstrations will be the first test of opponents’ ability to turn widespread popular anger into pressure on the centre-right president, who is accused of obstructing a corruption investigation.
“Brazil takes to the streets to say ‘Enough of this government!’” the trade unions association CUT said in a statement.
The main rallies are expected in the capital Brasilia and Sao Paulo.
However, another series of protests announced by more centre-right groups have been called off.
Temer is fighting for his political life after the release on Wednesday of a secret recording in which he appears to be heard giving the green light to paying hush money to a jailed politician.
He opened a dramatic counterattack on Saturday, claiming that the recording had been “manipulated and doctored.”
“I will continue to lead the government,” Temer said in a nationally televised speech, touting signs that Brazil is finally inching out of its worst recession in history.
Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot accuses Temer of attempting to block a huge anti-corruption investigation known as “Car Wash.”
The probe has upended Brazil, indicting scores of politicians or subjecting them to probes into alleged bribe-taking and embezzlement.
Temer is only the latest to be pulled into the maelstrom.
At the heart of his problems is the conversation he had with an executive from the JBS meat-packing business in which the president allegedly blesses monthly payments of hush money to the jailed former lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha.
He is in prison after a “Car Wash” judge convicted him of bribe-taking, but the powerful insider has long been rumoured to be threatening to spill secrets on other politicians.
Temer says he never paid hush money and says his conversation with the executive was misinterpreted, and that the recording itself has been distorted.
To combat demands for his impeachment, Temer must keep his ruling alliance together, centred on his own centre-right PMDB party and the PSDB social democrats.