Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Friday rejected calls for her resignation amidst a political storm deepened by a massive corruption scandal and blamed her opponents for causing a crisis that has hurt the Brazilian economy.
“No one has the right to ask for the resignation of a legitimately elected president without showing proof that I violated the constitution to warrant my impeachment,” Rousseff told reporters, indicating she has no intention of quitting, despite Brazil’s worst economic recession in 25 years.
The leftist leader, who was narrowly re-elected in 2014, is losing ground among her coalition allies and faces nationwide demonstrations today organized by opposition parties seeking to rally support for impeaching the president in the Brazilian National Congress.
Photo: AP
Rousseff said calls for her resignation were damaging the Brazilian economy, which shrank 3.8 percent last year.
“This wave of rumors is creating a political crisis that is absolutely negative for the economy,” she said.
However, Brazil’s currency strengthened ahead of today’s pro-impeachment protests, ending a third week of gains as investors bet on a change of government ushering in more business-friendly policies to restore confidence and growth.
The Brazilian real climbed 4.5 percent against the US dollar for the week and ended at 3.59 to the US dollar, its strongest close since August last year.
Opposition parties are seeking to unseat Rousseff by impeachment in Congress or annulment of her re-election for allegedly using illegal money from the Petrobras bribery and kickback scandal to fund her campaign.
Charges of money laundering brought against her mentor and predecessor, former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have deepened the crisis this week.
Rousseff said an arrest warrant requested by Sao Paulo state prosecutors for Lula on Thursday had absolutely no legal basis.
She declined to confirm reports that Lula would be offered a post in her Cabinet as a way to give him some immunity from the corruption investigation, but she said she would be proud to have him in her government.
The widening corruption probe surrounding state-run oil company Petrobras has turned key lawmakers from Brazil’s largest party against Rousseff, threatening to split her coalition and increasing chances of her impeachment in Congress this year.
The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, known as the PMDB, is the main ally of the ruling Workers’ Party and its leader, Michel Temer, is Rousseff’s vice president. The party was expected to avoid an outright break with Rousseff’s government at a biennial convention yesterday, but it could decide to free its lawmakers to vote for Rousseff’s impeachment, which would put Temer in the presidential seat.
The advance of the corruption probe toward the inner circle of the Rousseff government and the prospect of mass protests led risk-analysis firm Eurasia to raise the odds of her ouster from office from 55 percent to 65 percent.
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