Brazil's Dilma Rousseff impeached by senate in crushing defeat

Michel Temer confirmed as new president after 61 of 81 senators back Rousseff’s removal from office amid economic decline and bribery scandal

 

Brazil’s first female president Dilma Rousseff has been thrown out of office by the country’s corruption-tainted senate after a gruelling impeachment trial that ends 13 years of Workers’ party rule.

 

Following a crushing 61 to 20 defeat in the upper house, she will be replaced for the remaining two years and four months of her term by Michel Temer, a centre-right patrician who was among the leaders of the campaign against his former running mate.

 

In a separate vote, the senate voted 42 to 36 not to bar Rousseff from public office for eight years.

 

Why are Brazil’s politicians ousting Rousseff from the presidency, what is Operation Car Wash, and who is implicated in the corruption investigation?

In his first address to the nation after being sworn in by Congress last night, Temer said it was time to unite the country, vowing to work to rescue an economy mired in recession and guarantee political stability for foreign investors.

 

Rousseff was defiant after being ousted. “They think they’ve defeated us, but they’re wrong,” she said from her official residency, her voice cracking and eyes moist with emotion. “I know we will all fight.”

 

Despite never losing an election, Rousseff – who first won power in 2010 – had seen her support among the public and in congress diminish as a result of a sharp economic decline, government paralysis and a massive bribery scandal that has implicated almost all the major parties.

 

For more than 10 months, the leftist leader fought efforts to impeach her for frontloading funds for government social programmes and issuing spending budget decrees without congressional approval ahead of her reelection in 2014. The opposition claimed that these constituted a “crime of responsibility”. Rousseff denies this and claims the charges – which were never levelled at previous administrations who did the same thing – have been trumped up by opponents who were unable to accept the Workers’ party’s victory.

 

Speaking to her supporters from the presidential palace after the vote, Rousseff pledged to appeal her impeachment, which she called a parliamentary coup. The ousted president also called on her supporters to fight the conservative agenda now bolstered by her removal from office.

 

“Right now, I will not say goodbye to you. I am certain I can say, ‘See you soon,’” she told supporters in Brasilia.

 

In keeping with her pledge to fight until the end for the 54 million voters who put her in office, Rousseff – a former Marxist guerrilla – ended her presidency this week with a gritty 14-hour defence of her government’s achievements and a sharply worded attack on the “usurpers” and “coup-mongers” who ejected her from power without an election.

 

Her lawyer, José Eduardo Cardozo, said the charges were trumped up to punish the president’s support for a huge corruption investigation that has snared many of Brazil’s elite. This follows secret recordings of Romero Jucá, the majority leader of the senate and a key Temer ally, plotting to remove the president to halt the Lava Jato (car wash) investigation into kickbacks at state oil company Petrobras.

 

While Rousseff was in the upper chamber, her critics heard her in respectful silence. But in a final session in her absence on Tuesday, they lined up to condemn her. As in an earlier lower house impeachment debate, the senators – many of whom are accused of far greater crimes – clearly revelled in the spotlight of their ten-minute declarations. Reflecting the growing power of rightwing evangelism, many invoked the name of God. One cited Winston Churchill. Another sang. Another appeared to be in tears.

 

I apologise to the president, not for having done what did, because I could not have done anything else, but because I know her situation is not easy,” claimed a sobbing Janaína Paschoal, one of the original co-authors of the impeachment petition. “I think she understands I did all this in consideration of her grandchildren.”

 

The result was never in doubt, though Workers’ party figurehead and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – who also faces a trial of his own – had lobbied hard until the last moment to try to swing enough senators to avoid impeachment.

 

At the end of the marathon 16-hour session of speeches, the final nail was hammered in by the former Brazilian footballer Romário, who had been rumoured to be among the few senators who might change their minds and save the president. Instead, he wound up the debate by confirming that he would once again vote for impeachment. “It’s a sad moment when you decide to remove a president,” he told the chamber. However he said he was convinced that Rousseff had committed a crime of responsibility.

 

Ahead of the verdict, senator Vanessa Grazziotin, of the Communist Party of Brazil, arrived with a sense of resignation. “I’ve worn a mixture of red [for the Workers’ party] and black because today is a day of mourning,” she said. “I’m going to cry.” However, she and other Rousseff allies hoped they could minimise Rousseff’s punishment.

 

Workers’ party senator Lindbergh Farias said the president’s accusers were cowards. “It’s amazing how everyone who didn’t have the gall to look Dilma in the eyes, spoke so bravely today in her absence,” he tweeted.

 

The final result was comfortably more than the two-thirds (54 seats) needed to finalise the president’s removal from office.

 

Shortly after 1.30pm, suspense filled the floor as senators watched as the upper house reached a quorum. Among the last to vote was the Workers Party’s Jorge Viana as a hush fell across the packed room. There were cheers of “Brazil!” from the pro-impeachment camp as the numbers flashed up on the screen before a group of senators burst into a rendition of the national anthem.

 

There were modest exchanges of “congratulations” and backslapping between impeachment supporters as Jucá, who was drawn into the Lava Jato corruption scandal, said he was “relieved” by the result.

 

Edison Lobao, of the PMDB, who voted for Rousseff’s ouster, said: “I couldn’t have voted differently regardless of who was the president. I would have voted for the impeachment of any president who acted outside the law.”

 

The musician and democracy activist Chico Buarque, who was among Rousseff’s supporters in the gallery, said the debate was rigged against her. “If the game were clean, she would have won,” he told local media.

 

Others noted that Rousseff’s removal from office less than halfway through her mandate reinforced the impression that the country’s political class remains uncomfortable with democracy although more than 30 years have passed since the end of Brazil’s military dictatorship. Only two of the last eight directly-elected presidents have completed their terms. Two have been impeached, one removed in a military coup, one killed himself, one died before taking power and another resigned.

 

It also marks a dramatic downfall of a woman who was once one of the world’s most popular politicians with approval ratings of 85%. But she had struggled with a hostile congress and a dire financial climate. When Rousseff took office in January 2011, the economy was growing at a quarterly clip of 4.9%. It has been downhill ever since and she leaves the presidency with output shrinking by 4.6% though this is partly because the price of Brazil’s oil exports is now below half of its peak in 2011.

 

Rousseff’s achievements in office were mainly an expansion of equality policies put in place by her predecessors, particularly the bolsa familia poverty relief program, which now reaches almost 14 million households.

 

Thanks to affirmative action and wider access to higher education, university enrolments jumped 18% during her first term. Since 2009, 2.6 million homes have been delivered by the government housing program – Minha Casa Minha Vida. But her record in other key areas is mixed. After falling in her first two years in power, deforestation of the Amazon has started to rise again. Her replacement has a lot to do.

 

Temer – who was widely criticised for appointing an all-male, all-white cabinet when he took power on an interim basis in May – was sworn in again on Wednesday afternoon and is set to continue until the next presidential election in 2018, when he has promised he will not stand.

 

After being sworn in, Temer promised a “new era” for Brazil during a televised cabinet meeting.

 

“From today on, the expectations are much higher for the government. I hope that in these two years and four months, we do what we have declared – put Brazil back on track,” he said. Regarding his upcoming trip to China, he said it was important to show that stability had returned. “We are traveling precisely to reveal to the world that we have political and legal stability,” he said. “We have to show that there is hope in the country.”

 

Temer received support from the United States, which implicitly rejected claims that Rousseff had been removed in a coup. US State Department spokesman, John Kirby said, “We are confident we will continue our strong bilateral relationship. This was a decision made by the Brazilian people and obviously we respect that ... Brazilian democratic institutions have acted within its constitutional framework.”

 

Shortly after the ceremony, he is due to fly to China to attend the G20 summit in Hangzhou, where he will hope to restore some of the credibility of an administration that has been battered by accusations of treachery and three ministerial resignations due to corruption scandals.

 

He has promised to introduce austerity measures that will restore Brazil’s credit ratings, which under Rousseff fell to junk levels. This is popular with investors, but not with the public. His approval ratings are only a fraction above those of his predecessor and he was roundly booed during the Olympic opening ceremony.

 

During the final stages of the senate trial, there was no repeat of the mass rallies in Brasilia that marked earlier stages of the process. However, a small group of Rousseff supporters staged a candlelit vigil in the main esplanade. Bigger protests have been seen in other cities this week. In São Paulo anti-impeachment protesters and riot police clashed on Monday night. Demonstrators claim the security forces made excessive use of tear gas and percussion grenades in what they fear will be a precursor of more clampdowns on opposition. Police claimed the protesters – many from the Landless Workers’ Movement – blocked roads and detonated a home-made bomb.

 

 

Annex:

 

Dilma Rousseff impeachment: what you need to know – the Guardian briefing

 

Why are Brazil’s politicians ousting Rousseff from the presidency, what is Operation Car Wash, and who is implicated in the corruption investigation?

 

Brazil’s senate voted to oust Dilma Rousseff from the presidency on Wednesday, following an impeachment process that has seen her suspended from office since May. Sixty-one senators, seven more than the two-thirds needed, backed her removal from office, confirming interim president Michel Temer as the country’s leader.

 

How bad is the crisis?

 

On a scale of one to 10, it has felt to many Brazilians like an 11. Rousseff, the most recent president, was impeached, the previous president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is about to stand trial, the economy is in the midst of its greatest slump for decades, and swaths of the political class have been implicated in the Lava Jato (Car Wash) corruption investigation.

 

Brazil's Dilma Rousseff impeached by senate in crushing defeat

 

What is Lava Jato?

 

Depending on your politics, it is either a clean broom sweeping out decades of rotten politicians or part of a conspiracy to end 13 years of Workers party rule without an election. Starting in 2008 but ramping up in 2014, federal police, prosecutors and judges have uncovered a multibillion-dollar kickback and bribery scandal at the state-run oil firm Petrobras, the biggest company in Latin America until the scandal hit.

 

Essentially, contracts were inflated so up to 3% of funds could be channelled to the three parties that previously formed a ruling coalition: the Workers party, the Democratic Movement party of Brazil (PMDB) and the Progressive party. The probe, however, has widened to include other parties and other projects, including the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. Some predict it will lead to the greatest jailing of lawmakers in world history.

 

What has been the impact on the country?

 

The scandal has paralysed the government because bribes were essential for building coalitions. It has also choked business because prosecutors ordered the suspension of contracts between Petrobras and its major suppliers, which included almost all of the country’s biggest construction and shipping firms. In more than two years, 61% of Petrobras’ 276,000 employees have lost their jobs, according to local media. Many smaller firms that depended on its business have been made bankrupt.

 

Many believe this pain will be worthwhile if the investigation leads to punishment of all corrupt politicians and sets the stage for a new era of clean government. But that future is a long way off, if it comes at all.

 

Why do Brazilian parties need slush funds?

 

Politicians all over the world need campaign finance, but it is particularly important in Brazil due to the country’s vast size, plethora of parties, three levels of government (with regular elections for municipal, state and national leaders and legislators) and an open-list election system for lawmakers. No single party has ever come close to a commanding majority in Congress, so support is bought with cabinet posts and/or cash.

 

Who is making the accusations?

 

The investigation is nationwide, but the charge is being led by judicial figures in the southern city of Curitiba. Most influential among them is Judge Sergio Moro, who has become something of a cult figure for his willingness to take on the country’s most powerful politicians and business people. Other prominent figures include Curitiba prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol and police chief Igor Romario de Paula.

 

Not everyone thinks they are heroes. Some lawyers claim their extensive use of preventative detentions and plea bargains rides roughshod over fundamental civil rights, including the presumption of innocence.

   

  Who is accused?

 

Prosecutors claim former president da Silva (better known as Lula) was the ringleader of the scheme, though he denies breaking any law and says the charges against him are trumped up to prevent him running for office again in 2018.

 

Others implicated include former house speaker Eduardo Cunha (PMDB); the head of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB); and senior politicians from almost every party. In addition, many leading businessman have been jailed, including Marcelo Odebrecht, the head of the country’s biggest construction company, and billionaire banker Andre Esteves. Foreign firms, including the UK-based Rolls Royce, have also been accused of making pay-offs.

 

'There is no crime': Brazil's ex-president keeps faith in party and justice system

 

Is Dilma Rousseff implicated in the Lava Jato scandal?

 

Not directly. Prosecutors have found no evidence that she was involved and even her enemies acknowledge that she is one of the few politicians in Brazil not to accept bribes.

 

However, it is widely assumed that Rousseff must have known what was going on because she was a former energy minister and chief of staff at the height of the wrongdoing. Many of her confidants have been arrested or are on trial. Whether she was aware of what was going on or not, she benefited from the campaign funds and failed to halt the corruption. Prosecutors allege she also tried to obstruct their investigation and protect her ally Lula by appointing him to the cabinet.

 

Is that why Rousseff was being impeached?

 

Only partly, and for all the wrong reasons. Rousseff has ostensibly been thrown out of office because she window-dressed government accounts ahead of the last presidential election. The charge is that her government filled holes in its accounts by taking loans from state banks without congressional approval.

 

Opponents say this creative accounting – accounting sleights of hand known as “pedaladas” (pedalling) – allowed the administration to fund a program for family farmers using money that was not reimbursed until several months later, bypassing Congress, creating a misleading impression of state finances and adding to economic instability.

 

In her defence, Rousseff said the money was not a loan because it was simply being transferred through the state banks from public coffers. Similar practices had also been used by previous administrations, though not at the same scale.

 

But this is a pretext. The real reasons for impeachment are political. Rousseff is enormously unpopular because she is blamed for the multiple crises facing the country and has proved an inept leader. But Brazil’s constitution does not allow a no-confidence vote to eject her from office so her enemies are using impeachment to do the job.

 

Some are clearly motivated by a desire to kill the Lava Jato investigation, which Rousseff refused to do. The impeachment process was initiated by Cunha after the Workers party refused to protect him from an ethics committee investigation. Secretly recorded conversations have also revealed that the PMDB leader in the Senate, Romero Jucá, wanted to remove the president so the Lava Jato investigation could be choked by her successor.

 

Where does that leave interim president Michel Temer?

 

Rousseff’s centre-right successor is almost as despised as his predecessor after helping lead the campaign to bring down his running mate, then naming an all-male, all-white cabinet and losing three ministers to the Lava Jato scandal in his first month in office. At the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Rio, Temer was such an embarrassment that his speech was cut to 10 seconds but still drowned out by boos. He is surrounded by politicians implicated in the corruption scandal and – as leader of Brazil’s biggest party – he too has benefited from dubiously acquired campaign financing.

 

  How has the public reacted?

 

Polls and street demonstration suggest voters are sick not just of the government, but almost all politicians. In March, an estimated 3 million people joined rallies against Rousseff’s government. Since then hundreds of thousands have demonstrated for or against impeachment. But none of the alternatives are popular. Temer’s administration has ratings in the low teens. Lula’s popularity is higher, but he is also hated by more people. The biggest beneficiary might eventually be former environment minister Marina Silva, a losing candidate in the last two presidential campaigns.

 

Where does Brazil go from here?

 

In a best-case scenario, the economy will pick up next year and Lava Jato will purge the nation’s political canker, allowing Latin America’s biggest nation to concentrate more effectively on social equality, sustainable development and regional integration.

 

Alternatively, the old hierarchy will quietly shelve Lava Jato once Lula and Rousseff are out of the way and restore the conservative policies of the past; or even open the way – as in Italy after the Clean Hands investigation – for a Silvio Berlusconi-like right-wing populist.

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