Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff reached out to political allies on Thursday to stem a growing rebellion within her coalition after the resignation of a fourth minister pushed the government deeper into crisis.
Brazilian Agriculture Minister Wagner Rossi resigned on Wednesday following corruption allegations against his aides, ratcheting up tensions within the ruling coalition and adding to a sense of disarray in Rousseff’s eight-month-old government.
The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), of which Rossi is an influential member, and other coalition allies have been angered by Rousseff’s drive to cut costs, reduce political favors and root out corruption in ministries.
Rossi’s resignation further raised the risk of a damaging showdown between Rousseff and the PMDB, the largest party in her alliance. Coalition parties blocked voting in the Brazilian Congress last week in a protest against the government and could derail Rousseff’s attempt to control spending and pass reforms such as streamlining the tax code to help raise economic growth.
“No government can emerge unscathed from the dismissal of four ministers in eight months. The new ghost haunting [the presidential palace] is named instability,” newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo wrote in an editorial.
Rossi will be replaced by Mendes Ribeiro, a little-known PMDB legislator in the lower house of Congress, the government said.
The political crisis in Brasilia has yet to upset Brazil’s financial markets, which are more focused on fears of a global recession, but comes at a bad time as Brazil’s economy shows signs of slowing after breakneck growth last year.
Rousseff, of the center-left Workers’ Party, faces the tricky task of spurring growth while maintaining fiscal austerity that is crucial to keeping inflation under control.
The 63-year-old career civil servant still enjoys relatively high popular support, in part because many middle-class Brazilians support her drive for cleaner government, but her disapproval rating has doubled since March, signaling that she could lose political capital this year as the weakening economy hits Brazilians in the pocket.
Rousseff, a technocrat whose aloof style has contributed to the souring of coalition ties, will personally reach out to her allies in a bid to ease tensions, a senior source in the president’s office said on Thursday.
Rousseff inherited a booming economy from former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, her charismatic and wildly popular predecessor, and came to power on Jan. 1 with bigger majorities in Congress.
Lula’s near-mythical reputation helped get Rousseff elected, but he also left her with several hangovers from his eight-year rule, including loose public spending, rising inflation and a culture in Brasilia that was more tolerant of corruption.
Jose Dias, a political consultant in Brasilia, said Rousseff had shaken a “wasps’ nest” with the anti-graft drive and appeared to be losing control.
“This corruption sweep is snowballing out of control, it’s extremely dangerous. She’s already lost her legislative agenda and now she risks growing instability,” he said.
PMDB officials did not respond to telephone calls on Thursday.
Rousseff’s transport minister left the government under a cloud of graft accusations last month and the high-profile arrest this month of a group of tourism ministry officials on corruption charges has angered PMDB leaders.
Former presidential chief of staff Antonio Palocci, seen by investors as a guiding hand in economic policy, quit in June following allegations of illicit enrichment. Rousseff also lost former defense minister Nelson Jobim after he complained that he was surrounded by “idiots.”
“This string of resignations is worrying. There’s a growing feeling of: ‘who is next?’” one Rousseff aide said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was