A presidente Dilma fala nesta manhã a correspondentes estrangeiros sobre o processo de impedimento que enfrentará no Senado, autorizado pela Câmara num movimento que reunião ressentidos de sua antiga base, ambições do vice Michel Temer e a estratégia das elites econômicas de fazer prevalecer o programa neoliberal do PMDB. O editorial do The New York Times sobre a aprovação do impedimento da presidente Dilma pela Câmara na noite das vergonhas políticas de domingo já foi destacado hoje pelo 247. Muitos outros editorais mundo a fora registraram o retrocesso e a violência política em curso no Brasil que desmentem o diagnóstico do ex-presidente Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Ontem ele disse que o impeachment de Dilma é “violento mas não traz risco à democracia”. Para o Le Monde, “o Brasil está à beira da raptura”. A seguir, outros editorais e artigos da imprensa internacional que colocam o Brasil no pior dos mundos: um país que desce aos infernos na economia e para completar coloca em risco sua jovem democracia. Um Brasil que, depois de ter conseguido uma inédita projeção internacional volta a ser um Brasil bananeiro.
Le Monde (França) – Le Brésil au bord de la rupture / Editorial
Le vote en faveur de la destitution de la présidente Dilma Rousseff est une mauvaise nouvelle pour le Brésil. Si le Sénat, qui doit se prononcer en mai, -confirme la procédure lancée par la Chambre basse, lundi 18 avril, MmeRousseff sera, après Fernando Collor de Mello en 1992, le deuxième chef d'Etat brésilien démis de ses fonctions. Pour une jeune démocratie de trente et un ans, c'est beaucoup.
Si la corruption est au cœur des deux révoltes politiques, Dilma Rousseff, à la différence de M. Color de Mello, n'est pas suspecte d'enrichissement personnel. Elle est accusée d'avoir usé d'artifices administratifs pour maquiller le déficit budgétaire, un procédé auquel elle n'est pas la première à avoir eu recours. Mais à travers elle, c'est tout un système qui est mis en cause, une spirale qu'elle n'a pas su contrôler : la gigantesque corruption au sein de la compagnie pétrolière nationale Petrobras, qui a servi de vache à lait au Parti des travailleurs (PT) au pouvoir et à ses alliés, notamment lorsque Mme Rousseff en était la ministre de tutelle, et une classe politique très largement impliquée dans des malversations multiples. La décision désespérée de la présidente, il y a un mois, de nommer son prédécesseur et mentor politique Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva au gouvernement pour le sauver de poursuites judiciaires dans un autre scandale de corruption n'a fait qu'aggraver les choses.
Dilma Rousseff paie aussi le retournement spectaculaire de l'économie brésilienne. Le ralentissement de la demande chinoise et l'effondrement des cours des matières premières ont transformé ce géant émergent de l'Amérique latine, flamboyant membre des BRIC (Brésil, Russie, Inde, Chine) qui a réussi, sous le règne de Lula, à tirer des dizaines de millions de gens de la pauvreté, en une économie frappée par la récession et le chômage. Les experts s'attendent, en 2016, à une chute de 3,5 % du PIB, pour la deuxième année consécutive.
Les dirigeants de l'opposition ont redonné des couleurs aux marchés financiers en faisant miroiter une libéralisation de l'économie, dans l'éventualité où le départ de Mme Rousseff leur permettrait de prendre le pouvoir. Plusieurs facteurs pourraient venir doucher ces espoirs.
D'abord, les successeurs probables de la présidente ne sont guère plus blancs qu'elle. Le premier, le vice-président, Michel Temer, est également susceptible de faire l'objet d'une procédure de destitution. Le suivant dans l'ordre de succession, Eduardo Cunha, le président de la Chambre basse, est accusé d'avoir dissimulé des millions de dollars de pots-de-vin sur un compte suisse.
Ensuite, comme le montrent les manifestations de ces derniers jours, l'opposition ne saurait passer par pertes et profits le soutien dont jouissent encore le PT et l'héritage de Lula dans la population, en dépit de l'immense impopularité de Dilma -Rousseff. Le climat politique va se durcir encore, et les dirigeants de l'opposition en première ligne dans la procédure de destitution ne sont pas les mieux placés pour laver le dégoût qui s'est emparé des Brésiliens pour leur classe politique.
Du côté du pouvoir cependant, crier au coup d'Etat ne sauvera ni Mme Rousseff, ni Lula, ni le PT. Le Brésil est entré dans une phase d'incertitude à haut risque. Il faut souhaiter que ses élus se ressaisissent et comprennent l'urgence de dépasser leurs intérêts personnels pour se consacrer à ceux d'une population qui avait placé sa confiance en eux.
The Washington Post (EUA) – Brazil’s lower house of Congress votes to impeach President Dilma Rousseff / Capa
By Dom Phillips and Nick Miroff
BRASILIA — President Dilma Rousseff lost a crucial impeachment vote in Brazil’s lower house on Sunday evening, making her removal ever more likely and deepening the country’s political crisis less than four months before the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Rousseff’s opponents easily obtained the two-thirds majority of votes in the 513-member Chamber of Deputies needed to pass the impeachment measure. Voting one by one in a rollicking marathon session broadcast live on television to a rapt Brazilian public, the pro-impeachment lawmakers celebrated wildly on the floor of parliament as they vaulted past the minimum threshold needed to repudiate her.
“To rescue the hope that was stolen from the Brazilian people, I vote yes,” said Shéridan de Anchieta, one of the many anti-Rousseff lawmakers whose statements brought rowdy applause and jeers to the chamber. One lawmaker fired confetti into the air from a toy pistol after voting to sack the president.
The cascade of votes to boot Rousseff from office less than two years after her reelection was a powerful display of her abject political collapse and the extremes of her unpopularity. Rousseff, 68, is the hand-picked successor of iconic former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and their leftist Workers’ Party once seemed unassailable as it led Brazilthrough an extended period of prosperity that lifted tens of millions out of poverty.
She and her supporters repeatedly denounced the impeachment attempt as “a coup” tantamount to an interruption of Brazilian democracy, which was restored in 1985 after 21 years of military rule.
Yet with Rousseff’s approval rating hovering around 10 percent, Sunday’s vote turned into a visceral repudiation of the 13 years that she and Lula have been in power. It was a stunning reversal of fortune in a country where everything seemed to be going right just a few years ago, when a global commodity boom had the Brazilian economy purring.
Now Brazil is mired in its worst economic slump since the 1930s. A frightening Zika epidemic continues to spread. With the country’s leaders consumed by political combat and a broad corruption scandal, Brazil today is a far angrier and more divided country than the one picked in 2009 to host this summer’s Olympics.
The impeachment measure will now move to Brazil’s Senate, where only a simple majority is needed to forceRousseff to step down. Senators would have 180 days to conduct formal impeachment hearings before a final vote to determine her fate while Vice President Michel Temer — Rousseff’s former running mate and now rival — assumes temporary control.
“It was a battle,” said Miguel Hadad, an opposition leader who voted for Rousseff’s removal. “So it is a moment of satisfaction for us, and also for the millions who went to the streets to demand impeachment.”
Lindberg Farias, a Rousseff ally in the senate, said that the politicians who could end up in power would frighten Brazilians, and that the president could prevail in the upper house, where a vote has yet to be scheduled.
Rousseff isn’t accused of stealing, but her opponents said she should be impeached because her administration allegedly tried to cover up budget gaps with money from government banks. She has denied any wrongdoing.
The specifics of those charges were barely referred to during Sunday’s proceedings — lawmakers voting for impeachment concentrated on attacking corruption and Rousseff’s economic record in 10-second speeches that were screamed as often as they were spoken.
Why Brazil may be dealing with an impeachment during the Olympics
“Lula and Dilma in jail! I vote yes for impeachment!” shouted Soraya Santos, a deputy from the state of Rio de Janeiro.
But many Brazilians unhappy with Rousseff also are wary of the lawmakers leading the impeachment push, more than half of whom are under investigation themselves on suspicion of corruption, bribery and other misdeeds, including Eduardo Cunha, the speaker of the lower house, who orchestrated the vote.
Said Communist Party deputy Marcivania Flexa, before voting against impeachment: “I have never seen so much hypocrisy.”
Brian Winter, a Brazil expert and the vice president of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, said thatRousseff’s impeachment was a process from which few winners would emerge.
“I worry history may take a dim view of both President Rousseff and this impeachment,” he said.
“Brazil’s economy is in its worst recession in at least 80 years in large part because of mistakes Rousseff made. But it’s hard to see how this impeachment — under dubious circumstances, by a Congress just as unpopular as she is — will lead to solutions in the near term,” Winter said.
“In coming weeks, I think you’ll see Rousseff pull out every legal and political means at her disposal to stay in office,” he added. “It’s going to be a messy transitional period of weeks or months, full of protests and polarization. Brazil’s economy needs strong leadership to pass a new wave of reforms, pull out of this mess and get back on the path it was on last decade when it dazzled the world.”
Demonstrators on both sides of Brazil’s political divide held rallies and street protests here and nationwide Sunday. Many followed the voting in Congress on big screens as if watching a soccer match.
According to police estimates, the crowd of more than 50,000 impeachment supporters at a rally Sunday outside Congress was twice as large as the anti-impeachment group that marched through Brasilia in Rousseff’s defense.
Those demonstrators have camped out near a soccer stadium here in the capital, many of them from activist groups, unions and left-wing movements that belong to Rousseff’s coalition.
Maria da Silva, 47, traveled from Maceio, in northeastern Brazil, where she works for the bus drivers trade union. She said the lives of tens of millions of poorer Brazilians like her improved immeasurably under Workers’ Party governments.
“There is more opportunity for the poor,” she said, adding that she had been able to buy her house through a government financing scheme that built low-cost housing. “To take out [Rousseff] and put the others in will be horrible,” she said. “This is a coup.”
But those working to remove Rousseff before the end of her second term, in 2018, say this movement is different and entirely democratic.
Pro-impeachment demonstrators are camped here in a city park, many wearing the yellow-and-green jerseys ofBrazil’s national soccer team. On the whole, they are more middle class and lighter-skinned, reflecting some of the racial and economic undercurrents in the impeachment battle.
Tiago Medina, 28, was in a group that had traveled from Porto Alegre, in Brazil’s more prosperous south, a bastion of anti-Rousseff sentiment. He said the pro-impeachment side is made up of people “who defend the values of freedom, with less state intervention in the economy.”
Medina said their movement is part of the rightward shift across Latin America after more than a decade of dominance by leftist leaders. “We’re standing up for liberal values,” he said.
The New York Times (EUA) – Dilma Rousseff Is Impeached by Brazil’s Lower House of Congress / Capa
By ANDREW JACOBS
BRASÍLIA — Brazilian legislators voted on Sunday night to approve impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, the nation’s first female president, whose tenure has been buffeted by a dizzying corruption scandal, a shrinking economy and spreading disillusionment.
After three days of impassioned debate, the lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, voted to send the case against Ms. Rousseff to the Senate. Its 81 members will vote by a simple majority on whether to hold a trial on charges that the president illegally used money from state-owned banks to conceal a yawning budget deficit in an effort to bolster her re-election prospects. That vote is expected to take place next month.
Those pressing for impeachment had to win the support of two-thirds of the 513 deputies in the lower house; the decisive 342nd vote for impeachment happened at about 10:10 p.m. Eastern time. The final vote was 367 for impeachment, 137 against and 7 abstaining. Two deputies did not vote.
If the Senate accepts the case, Ms. Rousseff will step down temporarily while it deliberates her fate. Vice President Michel Temer, a constitutional law scholar and seasoned politician, will assume the presidency.
Given the larger-than-expected margin of deputies voting for impeachment, some political analysts said the Senate was likely to remove Ms. Rousseff from office, a ruling that would require a two-thirds majority.
“Politicians know how to read society pretty well, and they can sense that the people want her out,” said Paulo Sotero, the director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.
Ms. Rousseff can still appeal to the Supreme Federal Tribunal, Brazil’s highest court, though it has rejected previous motions to have the impeachment measure dismissed.
The chamber’s decision to impeach Ms. Rousseff less than halfway through her second term provoked shouts of joy among the thousands of protesters who had gathered in the capital and in cities across the country, but also cries of treachery from her supporters.
Weeping as she stood amid the throngs rallying in support of the president, Gabriela Correia, 22, a customer service representative, said she was disgusted that so many deputies, some of them notoriously corrupt, had voted against Ms.Rousseff. “I want to make clear that I’m not here to defend a politician, but to protect our democratic political system,” she said. “My heart is aching.”
Some political analysts said they worried that the move to impeach Ms. Rousseff would cause lasting damage toBrazil’s young democracy, re-established in 1985 after two decades of military dictatorship.
“This is a coup, a traumatic injury to Brazil’s presidential system,” said Pedro Arruda, a political analyst at the Pontifical Catholic University in São Paulo. “This is just pretext to take down a president who was elected by 54 million people. She doesn’t have foreign bank accounts, and she hasn’t been accused of corruption, unlike those who are trying to impeach her.”
Although legal experts and political analysts are divided, many have expressed concern over the basis of the impeachment drive. They note that the budgetary sleight of hand that Ms. Rousseff is accused of employing to address the deficit has been used by many elected officials, though not on so large a scale.
“It’s putting a very large bullet in Brazilian democracy,” said Lincoln Secco, a professor of history at the University of São Paulo. “This will set a very dangerous precedent for democracy in Brazil, because from now on, any moment that we have a highly unpopular president, there will be pressure to start an impeachment process.”
The vote to impeach is a crushing defeat for Ms. Rousseff and her Workers’ Party, a former band of leftist agitators who battled the nation’s military rulers in the 1980s and who swept to power in 2002 with the election of one of the group’s founders, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to the presidency.
Mr. da Silva, a skillful politician who endeared himself to both rich and poor, presided over heady economic growth and a generous expansion of social welfare benefits that helped lift millions of Brazilians out of abject poverty.
He also moved to strengthen the government’s control of key industries like petroleum. That set the stage for abuses at Petrobras, the state-owned oil company, that would later ensnare scores of the nation’s political and business elite in a scheme that funneled kickbacks into campaign coffers.
Barred from running for a third term, he anointed Ms. Rouseff as his successor, and she easily won election in 2010.
A former Marxist guerrilla, Ms. Rousseff had never before held elected office, and critics say her lack of political skills hampered her ability to work with opposition members in Congress as well as key figures in her governing coalition.
In 2014, she was re-elected by a thin margin after an especially divisive campaign.
As the economy went into a tailspin and a huge corruption scandal took down once-untouchable political figures, Ms.Rousseff was abandoned by many of her allies, giving momentum to an impeachment initiative conceived by her rivals.
“When things started going wrong, she was unable to get the situation under control, and her lack of flexibility and stubbornness made things worse,” said Mathieu Turgeon, a political scientist at the University of Brasília. “All of this has now caught up with her.”
The impeachment drive has been polarizing, spurring raucous street protests, sundering friendships and provoking widespread anxiety over the potential impact to Brazil’s democracy.
Ms. Rousseff and her supporters have likened the impeachment drive to a slow-rolling coup by her political rivals, among them Mr. Temer, her vice president, who last month joined those calling for her impeachment.
The recent fortunes of Brazil, once an economic powerhouse of the developing world, have gone from bad to worse, with the economy expected to contract at least 3.5 percent for a second year in a row. Millions of Brazilians have lost their jobs since the days of double-digit growth, fueled in part by China’s hunger for commodities.
In recent months, her once-favorable approval ratings have dipped below 8 percent.
“This is a government that has lost legitimacy, credibility and the ability to govern,” said Monica de Bolle, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a research group in Washington. “It’s a terrible situation.”
Although Ms. Rousseff is not accused of corruption, the Petrobras scandal has implicated important members of her party, including Mr. da Silva. He is being investigated over allegations that he and his foundation received the equivalent of $7.8 million in services and lecture fees from construction companies seeking government contracts.
The unfolding scandal, known as Operação Lava Jato, or Operation Car Wash, has riveted Brazilians, as prosecutors have released details of how Petrobras funneled millions of dollars into the political campaigns of Workers’ Party politicians and their allies.
“The impeachment is on relatively weak constitutional grounds, but at the end of the day, this is a vote on the massive corruption probe, deep recession and a series of other issues that have plagued this administration,” said Christopher Garman, a Brazil analyst at the Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm.
Ms. Rousseff is the second Brazilian leader to be impeached since 1992, when Fernando Collor de Mello, facing huge protests over an influence-peddling scandal, resigned moments before the Senate was to vote on his ouster.
Ms. Rousseff’s predicament is somewhat different. Unlike Mr. Collor de Mello, she has not been accused of self-enrichment, and despite her sagging popularity, only 61 percent of Brazilians support impeachment, down from 68 percent last month, according to a survey by the polling firm Datafolha.
Then there is the question of who and what comes next. Vice President Temer, a senior member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, will have to grapple with political and economic challenges.
He also faces possible impeachment over the same allegations lodged against Ms. Rousseff, as well as accusations that he was involved in an illegal ethanol-buying scheme.
Next in line for the presidency after Mr. Temer is Eduardo Cunha, the powerful leader of the lower house, who has been a driving force behind Ms. Rousseff’s impeachment. An evangelical Christian who is fond of using his Twitter account to spread biblical verse, Mr. Cunha is accused of using a Swiss bank account to conceal $40 million in bribes.
“People are fed up with the mismanagement and economic mistakes of Dilma, and the corruption and arrogance of the Workers’ Party, but no one feels any optimism for what might come next,” said Raul Juste Lores, the editor at large for Folha de S.Paulo, a leading Brazilian newspaper.
As tens of thousands of people gathered outside the National Congress on Sunday to express their support for or against impeachment, some celebrated by setting off fireworks, while others said there were no winners in the day’s vote.
Among them was Stephany Machado, 22, a Portuguese teacher who had made the 16-hour trip by bus from São Paulo. Although she said she was not a supporter of the Workers’ Party, she worries about the long-term damage that impeachment could inflict on democracy in Brazil.
“Dilma is president through the power of our votes, and what they are trying to do is remove her from power in an anticonstitutional way,” she said. “We can’t give this up without a fight.”
Paula Moura contributed reporting from Brasília, and Vinod Sreeharsha from Rio de Janeiro.
The Washington Post (EUA) – Fights loom after Brazil’s lower chamber OKs impeachment
By Jenny Barchfield and Mauricio Savarese
BRASILIA, Brazil — For the second time in under a quarter century, Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies voted to open impeachment proceedings against a democratically elected leader, dealing a devastating blow to President DilmaRousseff, whose left-leaning Workers’ Party came to power 13 year ago on the promise of improving the lot of the poor.
The 367-137 vote late Sunday in favor of impeachment was well over the 342 votes needed for the proceedings to move ahead to the Senate, where a majority vote will determine whether Rousseff is put on trial and suspended while Vice President Michel Temer temporarily takes over. The exact date of the Senate vote is not known, but it’s widely expected by the middle of next month.
The vote in the lower house sparked elation among many Brazilians, who hold Rousseff responsible for everything from the devastating recession to chronic high taxes and poor public services. At the same time, a broad swath of the population was deeply upset by the results, which many decried as anti-democratic and worrisome.
“I’m happy because I think Dilma had to go, but I’m also both sad that it came to this and also really worried that the next president could be even worse,” said Patricia Santos, a 52-year-old small business owner who was among an estimated nearly 60,000 pro- and anti-impeachment demonstrators who outside Congress. “I quiver to think what awaits us next.”
While Rousseeff herself didn’t react to the results, her party’s leader in the lower house, Jose Guimaraes, acknowledged the battle had been lost but insisted the war was just beginning.
“The putchists won in the Chamber of Deputies. . We can turn it over in the Senate,” he said. “We’re going to continue to fight because we don’t back down and we aren’t going to let ourselves be beat by this momentary loss.”
Solicitor General Jose Eduardo Cardozo said after the vote that Rousseff would not resign and that she would address the situation Monday. He also hinted an appeal could be filed with the Supreme Federal Tribunal, Brazil’s highest court.
Sunday’s vote came about 24 years after the lower house opened impeachment proceedings in 1992 against Fernando Collor de Mello, Brazil’s first democratically elected president after more than two decades of military rule. Collor faced corruption allegations and ended up resigning before the conclusion of his impeachment trial in the Senate.
Rousseff has been accused of violating fiscal laws by using sleight-of-hand accounting to maintain government spending. Noting she hasn’t been accused of any crime, she insists the impeachment is a “coup” and has pledged never to resign.
Rousseff’s foes maintain the budget maneuvers were a bid to shore up popular support as Brazil plunged into the worst recession in decades.
Rousseff says previous presidents used the same accounting maneuvers without repercussions and insists the allegations are little more than a flimsy excuse by Brazil’s traditional ruling elite to snatch power back from the Worker’s Party, which has governed since 2003.
Luciano Dias, a Brasilia-based political consultant, said ultimately Rousseff “made the same mistakes that former President Fernando Collor made.”
“She took too many resources from the private sector, she was arrogant with Congress for a long time and her economic policies were just wrong,” he said.
Rousseff, a one-time guerrilla fighter who was tortured under the military dictatorship, was hand-picked by charismatic former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to succeed him — becoming Brazil’s first woman president. But seven years of galloping economic growth under Silva began to flag after she took office in 2011, and she narrowly won re-election in 2014 after widespread nationwide protests a year earlier. Her popularity rating has plunged in step with the tanking economy, and opinion polls suggest a majority of Brazilians support her ouster, though many appear to have reservations about those in line to replace her.
Temer, the vice president, has been implicated in the investigation into a mammoth corruption scheme centered on the state-run Petrobras oil company. He could conceivably also face impeachment proceedings because he signed off on the some of the same fiscal maneuvers as Rousseff.
The second in line to replace Rousseff, Chamber of Deputies Speaker Eduardo Cunha, has been charged with taking $5 million in bribes in the Petrobras scheme.
Cunha was the driving force behind the impeachment proceedings — an irony that was not lost on the government camp.
“My god, what hypocrisy. It’s not Dilma who should leave the (presidential) palace. You, Eduardo Cunha, should not be in that seat,” lawmaker Moema Gramacho of the Workers’ Party said as she proclaimed her “no” vote.
Asked whether he was happy with the results, Cunha said, “All of this is very sad, very serious.”
“The president lost the ability to govern a while ago . she fell to the bottom of the well,” Cunha said, adding, “NowBrazil has to get out of the well.”
A circuslike atmosphere reigned on the floor of the house during the six-hour vote. Lawmakers sporting Brazilian flag capes and red sashes jostled, jeered, cheered, chanted and snapped endless selfies as they picked their way through the packed crowd to the microphone to proclaim their votes.
Impeachment supporters invoked God, family and Brazil to justify their votes, often saying impeachment would help put an end to endemic corruption in the country.
“I want tomorrow to be a new day for this country, a new day of hope,” said Odelmo Leao of the Progressive Party. “God bless. My vote is yes.”
Rousseff’s supporters said it was a blow for the poor — an estimated 30 million of whom were lifted out of destitution, thanks in part to the Workers’ Party’s popular wealth redistribution programs.
“This is a coup against the poor, a coup against social programs,” said Workers’ Party legislator Patrus Ananias.
Robert Silva, who was collecting empty cans at the pro-impeachment rally in front of Congress, said he didn’t think anything that happened within its halls would improve his lot much.
“With Dilma, my life is like this,” he said, gesturing to his shopping cart filled with crumpled aluminum cans. “I just hope with whoever’s next it won’t get worse.”
Le Parisien (França) – Unit de destitution au Brésil
La soirée a été longue pour la présidente Dilma Rousseff, que l'opposition de droite s'échine à chasser du pouvoir. Un bras de fer titanesque entre ennemis jurés.
Charles De Saint Sauveur
Hier soir, le président du Congrès, Eduardo Cunha, a ouvert à Brasilia une session historique où les 513 députés devaient se prononcer sur la destitution de la très impopulaire présidente du Brésil, Dilma Rousseff, au pouvoir depuis cinq ans.
L'atmosphère à l'Assemblée, confuse et survoltée, était à la mesure de la crise politique qui secoue le pays depuis plusieurs mois. Dehors aussi : une immense foule s'est postée devant le Congrès pour suivre le vote sur des écrans géants. Symbole d'un pays coupé en deux, une barrière de 1 km a été plantée pour séparer les opposants (en vert et jaune) des partisans (en rouge) de la présidente. Hier soir, tous retenaient leur souffle. Retour sur les acteurs clés de ce drame politique.
Rousseff, la présidente en sursis. « Je ne renoncerai jamais ! » a lâché hier la présidente brésilienne, soupçonnée d'avoir maquillé les comptes publics pour minimiser les déficits et ainsi favoriser sa réélection en 2014. Plongée dans la tourmente, elle sort les griffes contre l'opposition qui a juré sa perte. Des « putschistes », clame-t-elle, avec la hargne qui bluffait ses camarades quand elle appartenait à la guérilla marxiste. Torturée, emprisonnée trois ans, elle n'a jamais eu peur de défier ses ennemis : la junte militaire au pouvoir autrefois, les députés de droite aujourd'hui. Elue en 2004 dans le fauteuil de l'ultra-populaire Lula, elle a d'abord surfé sur une popularité record (77 %), puis tout s'est effondré en 2015, quand la récession a mis fin au miracle économique. Désormais, six Brésiliens sur dix veulent la voir partir.
Lula, le revenant. Pour sauver la présidente de la tempête, il n'y avait que lui : Lula da Silva, son mentor. L'ancien chef du Parti des travailleurs, charismatique et adulé, est revenu à 71 ans dans le jeu politique à la faveur de la crise, en prenant les rênes du cabinet présidentiel, l'équivalent d'un rôle de Premier ministre. Une nomination très contestée — y compris par la justice — pour épauler Dilma mais aussi pour se protéger des soupçons de corruption dans l'affaire Petrobras.
Temer et Cunha, les « conspirateurs ». Pour les hérauts de la destitution, le calcul est simple : 342 députés, soit les deux tiers, devaient voter cette nuit pour la destitution de Rousseff, préalable indispensable à la poursuite de la procédure début mai devant le Sénat, qui tranchera le sort de la présidente. A la manoeuvre, deux hommes. Michel Temer, le vice-président (centriste,) brésilien, qui s'est lassé, à 75 ans, de jouer les seconds rôles. Cet homme d'appareil discret veut sa part de lumière et ne s'en cache plus. C'est lui qui a sonné l'hallali en retirant son parti centriste de la coalition gouvernementale. Quant à l'autre « conspirateur », Eduardo Cunha (photo ci-contre), il est celui qui tire — depuis le fauteuil de la présidence du Congrès — les ficelles de la destitution, tel un Machiavel brésilien. A 57 ans, ce centriste, proche de Temer, a juré la perte de Dilma Rousseff. Mais son tour pourrait venir, car il est soupçonné d'avoir touché des pots-de-vin dans le cadre du scandale Petrobras.
Financial Times (Reino Unido) – Brazil tensions rise amid vote on Dilma Rousseffimpeachment
Joe Leahy
Brazil's government braced itself amid mass protests on Sunday as congress began a crucial vote on whether President Dilma Rousseff should be impeached.
By the early evening, 83 members of the 513-lower house had voted for impeachment, with 25 against and three abstentions. The opposition needs 342 votes to pass the motion. The government and the ruling Workers' party (PT) requires 172 votes against and abstentions to overturn the motion.
In Brasília, supporters both for and against impeachment massed in front of the house of congress, divided by a metal wall and guarded by riot troops.
In spite of an oppressive sun, the atmosphere was carnival-like, with organisers mixing live entertainment with political speeches and some protesters drinking beer.
"Get rid of this thief," said one protester in favour of impeachment while those on the other side of the fence lamented the takeover of the country by "golpistas", or coupmongers, as the Workers` Party has dubbed the opposition.
In a show of confidence early in the day, Ms Rousseff had gone on her normal morning cycle ride near her presidential home in Brasília.
"We are living under the threat of a coup," Ms Rousseff said in an column published in Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. "A coup without the use of arms but by methods even more destructive, such as fraud and lies."
The vote is being watched closely by markets, which have rallied on hopes that Ms Rousseff's government will fall.
Critics accuse her of pursuing interventionist policies that have led to one of the worst political and economic crises inBrazil's history, with the economy facing its deepest recession in more than a century and the government hamstrung by the impeachment debate.
The government and its opponents are also implicated in a corruption investigation at Petrobras, the state-owned oil company, further angering Brazilians.
If congress approves the impeachment vote, the senate will then vote on whether to accept the process.
If this passed by a simple majority, the formal trial would begin in the senate and Michel Temer, the vice-president, would take over as acting president in early May.
Ms Rousseff, one of the country's most unpopular presidents in history, has spent the weekend wooing congressmen and state governors, some of whom wield considerable power in congress, inviting them to her home in Brasília.
In a video published on social networks, Ms Rousseff said the opposition would cut social programmes including the Bolsa Família, a monthly stipend for the poor, if it won power — a threat she used to woo low-income earners in the 2014 elections. Mr Temer has denied such claims.
Congress has been debating the impeachment proposal since Friday, with lawmakers from all sides giving impassioned speeches. The nearly 43-hour session was the longest in the chamber's history, local media reported.
Led by Eduardo Cunha, the house speaker and a sworn enemy of Ms Rousseff, the voting session is expected to begin at 2pm local time with more speeches after which each lawmaker will vote.
If Ms Rousseff loses, she is expected to use her remaining time in office to try to sway the vote in the senate with promises of ministries, government jobs and local spending commitments.
Mr Temer, hitherto a retiring vice-president who commands little name recognition among most Brazilian voters, will face fierce opposition from the PT, which is known for its ability to marshal unions and social groups for street protests.
He would, however, enjoy the support of markets and industry, giving him a short honeymoon with which to try to rebalance Brazil`s sinking public finances and introduce some reforms.
If Ms Rousseff wins, the political infighting is expected to continue, with elections not due until 2018. She faces other threats, including a lawsuit in the election tribunal alleging that she used money from corruption to fund her 2014 election campaign.
If convicted by the electoral court, she and Mr Temer would have their mandate annulled and new elections would be called.
Le Monde (França) – La descente aux enfers de la dauphine de Lula
Mme Rousseff est accusée d'avoir enjolivé les comptes publics, mais elle paie surtout ses erreurs politiques
Jusqu'aux dernières heures, elle y a cru. Rappelant que 54 millions d'électeurs l'avaient élue pour quatre ans, jusqu'au 31 décembre 2018. Pas un jour de moins. Dilma Rousseff, première femme présidente de l'histoire brésilienne, dauphine de l'ancien président Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), réélue de justesse en octobre 2014, a désormais peu de chances de terminer son second mandat.
Cette fille d'un avocat communiste d'origine bulgare, travailleuse et déterminée, a mis un pied hors du palais présidentiel dimanche 17 avril après le vote des députés en faveur de son impeachment(destitution). Prévu entre fin avril et début mai, le vote du Sénat devant l'éloigner du pouvoir pendant cent quatre-vingts jours prend désormais des allures de formalité. Il restera ensuite une étape, plus incertaine : le vote final d'une majorité des deux tiers du Sénat visant à la chasser définitivement de Brasilia.
" S'opposer à moi, me critiquer fait partie de la démocratie. Mais démettre une présidente élue de façon légitime, sans que celle-ci ait commis un quelconque crime (…) n'est pas le jeu démocratique. C'est un coup d'Etat ", avait-elle encore affirmé la veille du scrutin.
Le terme de golpe (" coup d'Etat "), fruit d'un marketing politique efficace, a permis de mobiliser une foule de partisans pour la soutenir. La présidente a toutefois fait les frais d'un dispositif prévu dans la Constitution brésilienne et " a eu recours à tous les instruments juridiques pour se défendre ", reconnaît-on au Planalto, le siège de la présidence.Sans le succès escompté.
Mais quel crime la présidente a-t-elle commis ? Le motif de l'impeachment se fonde sur les " pédalages budgétaires ", une astuce à laquelle elle a eu recours pour masquer, un temps, l'ampleur du déficit public. Une ruse dont ont usé tous les présidents, bien que dans une moindre ampleur. Un prétexte, donc.
Contrairement à Fernando Collor de Mello, dont les députés avaient voté la destitution en 1992, la corruption qui exaspère tant la société brésilienne n'est pas non plus à l'origine de sa disgrâce. La présidente appartient au Parti des travailleurs (PT, gauche), sali par les affaires, et en particulier par l'enquête " Lava Jato " (" lavage express "), qui a mis au jour le scandale tentaculaire lié au groupe pétrolier public Petrobras. Ministre des mines et de l'énergie de 2003 à 2005 et présidente du conseil d'administration du géant pétrolier, la présidente peut difficilement plaider l'ignorance.
Lassitude des classes moyennes
Mais elle n'a jusqu'ici fait l'objet d'aucune enquête témoignant d'un enrichissement personnel. Ce qui n'est pas le cas du possible futur vice-président, Eduardo Cunha, président de la Chambre des députés, à l'origine du lancement de l'impeachment, accusé de corruption et de blanchiment d'argent. La grande majorité des députés qui ont sanctionné Mme Rousseff sont eux aussi suspectés, voire accusés, de charges bien plus lourdes. Ainsi de Paulo Maluf, du Parti progressiste (PP, droite), ancien maire et gouverneur de Sao Paulo, recherché par la justice américaine, condamné en France et fiché par Interpol depuis 2010.
Si ce n'est ni pour cavalerie financière ni pour corruption, elle paie pour ses erreurs. Des fautes diplomatiques, économiques et politiques qui ont contribué à faire d'elle la chef d'Etat la plus impopulaire de l'histoire de la jeune démocratie. Arrivée après un Lula qui a sorti de la misère des dizaines de millions de Brésiliens, faisant naître de nouvelles attentes, elle a lassé, entre autres, les classes moyennes, cette petite bourgeoisie que le PT a délaissée.
Celle que Lula avait qualifiée de " mère du peuple " a aussi et surtout dû affronter une crise économique largement sous-estimée lors de sa campagne. Le " champ de roses " qu'elle a promis n'a jamais pu se concrétiser, laissant aux électeurs un arrière-goût de trahison. Incapable de juguler la récession et la montée du chômage, cette admiratrice de Jean-Paul Sartre, des maquisards vietnamiens et de Fidel Castro a apporté des remèdes micro et macroéconomiques que l'économiste Gesner Oliveira qualifie de " désastreux " : une politique budgétaire expansionniste à contretemps, une manipulation des calculs des excédents primaires suscitant la défiance, un contrôle artificiel des prix de l'électricité et du pétrole, qui contribueront après coup à faire galoper l'inflation.
Le " tournant de la rigueur ", adopté malgré elle au début de son second mandat, lui attirera aussi l'animosité des puristes de gauche, sans amadouer les milieux d'affaires. Et, pour faire passer les mesures impopulaires et les réformes nécessaires, Dilma Rousseff ne parviendra jamais à rallier le Congrès, auquel elle n'a pas su parler. Celle que l'on décrit comme cassante et arrogante n'a pas le talent de son mentor, Lula, pour l'" articulation " politique, comme disent les Brésiliens. Un art indispensable dans un système politique où cohabitent 26 partis au Congrès (sur 37 au total). " Si Dilma avait été Lula, elle aurait résisté malgré la crise, et malgré “Lava Jato” ", souffle Chico Alencar, député du Parti socialisme et liberté (PSOL, gauche), contre l'impeachment.
Certains soulignent que l'une de ses premières erreurs a sans doute été, paradoxalement, sa brutalité visant à " mettre fin à l'impunité qui protège les corrompus ". En 2011, tout juste élue, elle démettra elle-même sept ministres soupçonnés de corruption et est reconnue comme la première présidente à avoir laissé la justice poursuivre ses investigations jusqu'au sommet de l'Etat.
Financial Times (Reino Unido) – After Dilma Rousseff: how to mend Brazil's broken system
John Paul Rathbone
Amid an economic crisis, a political crisis and the country's largest corruption scandal, Brazil was paralysed. The situation could not go on — so it did not.
Late on Sunday Brazil's Congress voted to open impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. If the senate confirms the vote — as expected — Ms Rousseff will step down for 180 days while the case goes to trial, with Michel Temer, vice-president, assuming the presidency in the interim. The 75-year-old constitutional lawyer with a former beauty queen wife 43 years his junior, he faces a formidable task.
Mr Temer's challenge is to right the listing ship of the Brazilian state — at least for a while. How might he do that? Mr Temer will probably proclaim a government of "national unity". If he is wise, he will magnify that projection of disinterested statesmanship by adding that he will not run for president in the next election in 2018.
The country's finances also need serious attention, not least a gaping fiscal deficit equivalent to 10 per cent of gross domestic product. Much of Mr Temer's plans on how to deal with such problems are outlined in a document called "A Bridge to the Future".
Published late last year by his centrist PMDB party, this calls for a more open economy, privatisation, more flexible labour laws and an end to inflation-indexed pensions. That is all music to investors' ears. To fully convince markets, however, Mr Temer will need to appoint some heavyweight chiefs to the finance ministry and the central bank.
That is not all. To counter claims Ms Rousseff's impeachment was a thinly disguised putsch, he will also need to appoint a heavyweight justice minister. This will reassure the country that the corruption probe at Petrobras, which has laid bare Brazil's grubby nexus of politics and money, will continue.
Will Mr Temer succeed in even doing even half of this? His honeymoon period will be brief. He has no popular mandate to execute a sweeping economic reform programme. The Petrobras probe will probably continue to eye guilty politicians, keeping Congress in a state of agitated near-paralysis. He also faces charges similar to those that led to MsRousseff's impeachment, of cooking the budget.
It is a mess. Yet it may prove a providential moment of catharsis. The last time a Brazilian president was impeached, in 1992, the country — which had long tolerated relatively high inflation — was between two bouts of hyperinflation. But in time, the chaotic process of that impeachment led to the "real plan" — a stabilisation programme that laid the basis for Brazil's prosperity of the early 2000s.
Today the country, which has long tolerated ordinary corruption, is disgusted by what has been called "hyper-corruption". Purging that from the system, as Brazil did with hyperinflation two decades ago, would be a major and unequivocal advance.
The Times (Reino Unido) – Protests grip Brazil as Rousseff faces impeachment defeat
James Hider
Brazil lurched deeper into turmoil last night as President Rousseff was poised to lose a vote that could end her rule of South America's largest nation.
Tempers flared as a three-day debate in congress ended in a vote on whether to impeach her. As each member of congress stepped up to a microphone to cast their vote, they made a short speech, either denouncing a "coup" if they were in her favour, or declaring that they were voting against corruption.
Polls showed that the pro-impeachment lobby had the two thirds of votes necessary to push the case up to the senate for trial. As voting dragged on into the night, the anti-government lobby was leading Mrs Rousseff's supporters by a ratio of almost four to one.
The president, a former Marxist guerrilla, failed to secure an 11th-hour supreme court injunction to block the vote. She cancelled an appearance at a rally and locked herself in desperate talks with undecided congressmen.
"They want to convict an innocent woman and save the corrupt," Mrs Rousseff, 68, wrote in an editorial, referring to the fact that many of those who are trying to force her out have themselves been accused of corruption, much of it linked to the $2 billion bribery scheme at the state oil company Petrobras.
The president is accused of diverting state funds to win the last election for her Workers' party.
Outside congress in the capital Brasilia, rival camps were divided by a metal fence that stretched half a mile and which was erected last week by prisoners under the supervision of armed police. The barrier outside the seat of government has become a symbol of how the impeachment issue has divided the nation.
Four large television screens placed on each side of the barrier allowed protesters, who were expected to swell to several hundred thousand, to keep track of the vote, which was expected to take hours.
The leader's supporters, clad in red, faced her opponents in yellow and green, the national colours. Protests were organised in other cities and the prospect of violent street clashes was rising.
Mrs Rousseff is one of the only top politicians not directly accused of some form of personal self-enrichment, although the impeachment charges claim that she used false accounting before the 2014 elections to make the economy appear robust even as it was tipping into crisis, shrinking by about 4 per cent last year.
She said that the charges were "fraud and lies in an attempt to dismiss a legitimately elected government and replace it with a government without legitimacy".
A vote for impeachment in the lower house would mean that the senate would have to decide, by a simple majority, whether to put her on trial. If it voted in favour Mrs Rousseff would be suspended to face trial in the senate in a session overseen by the head of the supreme court.
Michel Temer, her vice-president, would take over but the 75-year-old head of the centre PMDB party that walked out of Mrs Rousseff's coalition, could face similar impeachment charges to the president.
Eduardo Cunha, the Speaker and a party colleague in the PMDB, has manoeuvred to block the process. Mr Cunha is accused of taking at least $5 million in bribes in the Petrobras case.
Reuters (Reino Unido) – Brazil markets set to rally after Congress backs impeachment
SAO PAULO | By Bruno Federowski
Brazil's financial markets are expected to react with euphoria on Monday after the lower house of Congress backed impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff, analysts and traders said.
Brazil's stocks and currency have been among the world's best performing assets on bets that the leftist president's ouster would open the door to a more business-friendly administration, better equipped to lift the economy out of its worst recession since the 1930s.
Hopes of political change have already helped lift the Bovespa benchmark stock index .BVSP more than 20 percent this year to its highest level since mid-2015.
In a sign the rally could continue, an exchange-traded fund of Brazilian equities (1325.T) gained 3.8 percent in Tokyo trading shortly after the result was announced.
But traders' initial euphoria after Sunday`s Congressional vote could soon give way to caution as they look for hints of what policy would look like in a government led by Vice President Michel Temer.
"Initially, details will be ignored and irrationality will prevail for one, two days," said Thiago Castellan Castro, a trader with Renascença brokerage in São Paulo. "After that, we'll go back to assessing technical issues - monetary policy, who'll be in charge of policymaking."
Sunday's vote by 367 votes to 137 against - with 7 abstentions and 2 absences - was widely seen as the biggest hurdle to ousting the unpopular Rousseff.
Temer would now take office if a majority of the Senate votes to open a trial against Rousseff in early May, as is expected. At that point the president would be suspended during the trial, which could last up to six months, and would be dismissed if found guilty.
Many believe Temer would have an easier time implementing austerity measures after Rousseff's pledges of spending cuts and tax increases bumped into strong opposition from her own lawmakers following her tight reelection in 2014.
Alexandre Póvoa, a partner with Canepa Asset Management, wrote in a client note the index could rise by an additional 10 percent.
However, investors could book profits as early as May if it becomes clear that Temer does not hold a clear fix toBrazil's economy, he said.
The real has strengthened more than 10 percent so far in 2016 despite determined action by the central bank to weaken the currency. Renascença's Castro said the currency could reach 3.40 per U.S. dollar on Monday after closing at 3.52 on Friday.
Banco Fibra's head of treasury Cristiano Oliveira said the currency should stabilize at about 3.30 per U.S. dollar but could reach as far as 3.00 if it over shoots.
ECONOMIC TEAM
Once the dust settles, traders will scrutinize the nominations for Temer's economic team, analysts said.
"Ideally, he would set up a team who is named for its technical credentials, not political reasons," said Leonardo Monoli, a partner with Jive Asset Management.
Local media have named former central bank presidents Henrique Meirelles and Armínio Fraga, both known for sticking with orthodox policymaking at times of financial turbulence.
Temer could also be eying Paulo Leme, the chairman of Goldman Sachs (GS.N) in Brazil, and Luiz Fernando Figueiredo, a former central bank official and founder of asset manager Mauá Capital, two people familiar with the situation told Reuters.
Whatever the composition of Temer's possible government, it will likely face an uphill struggle given the embittered political climate, the depth of the economic crisis, and his PMDB party's involvement in a sweeping corruption investigation.
"Strikes and protests by Rousseff's organised labour supporters will complicate things for VP Michel Temer when he assumes the presidency in mid-May, but the Lava Jato probe is still a much greater liability for him and the PMDB", political risk consultancy Eurasia Group wrote in a client note.
El País (Espanha) – Brasil na expectativa / Coluna / Juan Arias
Sociedade vive momento histórico e se prepara para saber veredicto sobre Dilma
O Brasil está vivendo hoje, 17 de abril, um de seus momentos históricos mais dramáticos com a sociedade na rua, dividida até no espaço geográfico para evitar possíveis confrontos, enquanto o Congresso se prepara para dar seu veredicto sobre a possível sentença contra a presidenta Dilma Rousseff.
O que para o Governo e para os seguidores do Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) é visto como um golpe, para a oposição significa uma oportunidade para uma mudança de rumo político após 13 anos de poder daquele partido e no momento de uma das maiores crises econômicas dos últimos 30 anos.
Dilma Rousseff não conseguiu conquistar o apoio e a simpatia das forças políticas que a apoiaram e que terminaram abandonando-a na hora do julgamento. Nas artes da política, Dilma não é o mago Lula.
Em seu apoio, apareceu precisamente o ex-presidente que viajou para Brasília, onde organizou uma quartel-general em um hotel ao lado do Palácio Presidencial com a difícil tarefa de convencer os antigos aliados a continuarem na base de apoio.
Foram horas dramáticas nas quais o ex-presidente se jogou com tudo para salvar Dilma do julgamento sumário do Congresso que, se for negativo, com toda a probabilidade receberá o voto definitivo do Senado que iria forçá-la a sair de cena e deixar a Presidência nas mãos de seu vice, Michel Temer, considerado seu grande inimigo político e até mesmo seu grande "traidor".
O ponto negro de todo este drama, é que o processo foi convocado e está sendo dirigido, pelo presidente da Câmara, Eduardo Cunha, um dos mais envolvidos em escândalos de corrupção. Além disso, a grande maioria das pessoas que se dispõem a votar contra Dilma, que não aparece pessoalmente incriminada em atos de corrupção, fazem parte da lista dos mais corruptos.
Talvez, dentro do drama que esta tarde vive o Brasil, o aspecto mais positivo é que, por enquanto, milhares de pessoas estão se manifestando nas ruas a favor e contra a possível condenação de Dilma com tons festivos e sem violência.
Esperemos que os brasileiros, qualquer que seja o veredicto do Congresso nas próximas horas, consiga continuar suas manifestações a favor e contra o processo contra Dilma, sem manchar de violência um dia já em si tão dramático.
E o país está na expectativa para saber o resultado da histórica e sombria votação.
The Wall Street Journal (EUA) – Brazil’s Impeachment Drama / Coluna / Mary Anastasia O’grady
Sunday’s special session of the lower house of the Brazilian Congress was a raucous affair as it met to vote on a motion to impeach President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers’ Party (PT). She is accused of using loans from state-owned banks to cover up a budget deficit her government created in violation of the Brazilian Constitution’s fiscal-responsibility law. After more than nine hours the motion won the 342 votes needed to pass.
Ms. Rousseff’s defenders said that it was a purely political attack by adversaries who are as corrupt as she is. In fact, her problems go much deeper.
With a constitution that gives the government almost unlimited power to intervene in the economy, it is hardly surprising that Brazil’s political system is riddled with conflicts of interest. But if this were a case of routine graft, Ms.Rousseff would likely have had success in her attempt to lure representatives from smaller parties to her side. As it stands, even if she had survived this vote, there are at least seven other impeachment petitions that will follow.
Brazil’s Congress is legendary for its lack of party discipline, and only three weeks ago it was widely believed that Ms.Rousseff could defeat the impeachment motion by offering lucrative posts in her government to opposition congressmen. But she wasn’t counting on the swelling wave of popular outrage against the PT machine.
This vote was a national referendum on the PT effort to bring bolivarianism—both its socialist economics and its political absolutism—to Brazil. It’s why House Speaker Eduardo Cunha scheduled the session on a Sunday. The nation was watching on television as each deputy voted on camera.
Even before the votes were counted, there were reports that the pro-impeachment side had the two-thirds majority necessary to prevail. The final result is evidence of the strong anti-Rousseff sentiment across the nation.
The petition now moves to the Senate which will decide with two simple-majority votes whether to suspend her and then set up an impeachment tribunal. After that a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate is needed to remove her from office. If she ultimately were cleared, Ms. Rousseff would resume her role as president, but during her suspension Vice President Michel Temer of the Brazilian Movement for Democracy Party would be in charge.
Ms. Rousseff only narrowly won re-election in October 2014 in a runoff against Brazilian Social Democratic Party candidate Aécio Neves. She pulled out that victory by using the power of her incumbency
