All day the elevator operators in Brazil’s Senate take politicians on rides, but the senators, they said, are moving the country only in one direction — down.
Humble men literally rubbing shoulders with some of Brazil’s most powerful, the elevator operators have a unique window on the upper chamber, where suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment trial is under way.
What they describe seeing in the corruption-riddled institution is not pretty.
“Our politicians are very dirty,” said one operator, who asked not to be identified because he feared losing his job. “I’ve never seen the Senate or the [Brazilian] House of Deputies ever vote something that was for the people. All I see is them fighting and shouting and thinking about themselves.”
The operator, who talked with reporters when the elevator was empty then fell silent as senators and other passengers got on, said he was no fan of Rousseff.
However, Brazilian interim president Michel Temer — who would take Rousseff’s place on a more permanent basis if she is ejected from office next week — is no better, he said.
“What I see is a lot of dirty people judging a woman who is also dirty,” he said. “Today there is no decent option for president.”
A colleague manning another of the aging ThyssenKrupp elevators in the elegant senate building was equally scathing.
“Substituting Dilma for Temer won’t be the solution. If there was a real election, he’d never win,” he said, also requesting anonymity.
The elevator men said some of the senators — about two-thirds of whom have current or past brushes with the law, according to corruption watchdog Transparencia Brasil — treat them kindly.
“Others, not so much. With them, it’s not even a ‘good afternoon,’” the second operator said.
Waiters in the senate restaurant also get to see — and hear — the country’s rulers from close up. The experience leaves a bitter taste.
“They pass laws to suit themselves, but not for the people,” one waiter said, looking over his shoulder to check no one had noticed him speaking to a reporter. “There are a few good ones who come in here, but mostly they are very arrogant and don’t treat us with respect.”
Cleaners are another group of ordinary Brazilians serving almost unnoticed in this most extraordinary of institutions.
What do they propose for Brazil’s politicians? Clean them out.
“I don’t think we can have any change without new elections,” a cleaner said, who also asked not to be identified. “Impeachment means changing the faces, but things will stay the same. We need to start again, a completely new start.”
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