Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Friday said she would appeal to South American trade blocs if she is removed from office, blasting the push to impeach her as a coup and a naked attempt by Brazil’s elite to snatch power back from her Worker’s Party.
Speaking to reporters, Rousseff said both the Mercosur and Unasur trade blocs have democracy clauses that she would invoke if there should be what she charged would be “a rupture in democracy” in Argentina.
She told her opponents that her impeachment would have “serious consequences for the Brazilian political process.”
Photo: Bloomberg
“There is no judicial basis for this process of impeachment,” Rousseff said. “I am not accused of crimes of corruption, diversion of public funds, nor do I have accounts abroad or any accusations of money laundering.”
She said that even some members of the opposition are beginning to support her, not necessarily because they agree with her policies, but rather because they see the impeachment push as a threat to Brazil’s democracy.
The impeachment proceedings against Rousseff stem from allegations that illegal accounting tricks allowed her administration to maintain government spending to shore up flagging support. Her critics contend that she also hid deficits that contributed to the country’s worst recession since the 1930s.
Over the past few days, Brazilian media reported that more than half of the 81 senators have said they would vote to consider impeachment, meaning Rousseff might soon be suspended.
Bringing the matter before the trade blocs would likely have little effect. As the blocs’ biggest and most powerful member, and largest economy in Latin America, Brazil wields considerable influence. Leaders of some member countries, such as Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, might be sympathetic to her plea, but it is unlikely they would want to risk alienating a new administration in Brazil if it looks like Rousseff is on her way out.
Rousseff blamed corrupt politicians in the Brazilian Congress, a hostile media and a flagging economy for her woes and took no responsibility for the charges against her.
“It’s a coup because you have a coup when the process that gets started has no basis. If in the past coups required tanks, machine guns, assault rifles, et cetera, today it’s enough to have hands that tear up constitutions, and that is what’s happening in Brazil,” she said.
Rousseff was in New York to address the UN at a signing ceremony for the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Many in Brazil had expected Rousseff to use the UN platform to make her anti-impeachment case to the world leaders gathered at the conference, but she made only a brief allusion to Brazil’s situation.
Brazilian opposition leaders, including Temer, sharply criticized Rousseff for traveling to New York, arguing that the impeachment movement is legal and that the president should not be badmouthing Brazil to the rest of the world.
Speaking to reporters after the speech, Rousseff said that many of the people leading the impeachment drive against her — including Chamber of Deputies speaker Eduardo Cunha — are facing corruption allegations.
She vowed to fight to stay in office until the next round of elections.
“I can’t say today what is going to happen. I just want to say that I will fight for my mandate. I think it’s absolutely correct today that I only respect direct elections,” Rousseff.
Brazilian Attorney General Rodrigo Janot on Friday said that investigators are looking into six new cases of corruption against Cunha.
Janot did not provide details, but said they were not connected to earlier cases linking Cunha.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
RSS