President Dilma Rousseff to take stand in Brazil impeachment trial
BRAZIL - Brazil’s postOlympic high is coming to an abrupt end as the trial to impeach its first female president comes to a head. Yesterday, embattled President Dilma Rousseff was due to make an appearance in front of lawmakers to argue her case.
It’s not clear if an impassioned speech will do any good, though -- the tide of opinion is against her, and the appearance is widely expected to be her last public address.
It’s an ugly return to reality for the South American nation, with the final vote in the long-running drama coming hard on the heels of Rio de Janeiro hosting of the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The impeachment process has dragged on for months, predating the Olympic torch lighting ceremony -- a glitzy showpiece that, despite orchestrating, Rousseff was barred from attending. It’s a political crisis that ordinary Brazilians could do well without -- the country is trying to pick itself out of recession. Rousseff calls the impeachment an attempt at a power grab by her rivals, saying her government has long been the target of political sabotage. “When Brazil or when a president is impeached for a crime that they have not committed, the name we have for this in democracy, it’s not an impeachment, it is a coup,” she said in May after the Senate voted to launch the proceedings.
The heir-apparent to former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Rousseff was reelected by a narrow margin in 2014, but soon a recession and a cross-party corruption scandal put an end to any political goodwill that she might have had.
She has been suspended from all official duties and has -for the time being, at least -- been replaced by her erstwhile deputy, Michel Temer, a man she accuses of stabbing her in the back.
The final vote to impeach, which needs to be ratified by 54 votes in favor, or twothirds majority of 81 senators, is expected Tuesday. If the vote passes -- and most Brazil watchers expect it to do so easily -- Temer will become the country’s new president until 2018’s general election, at least. He would inherit a tattered economy along with the keys to the presidential palace in Brasilia. (CNN.COM)