Brazilians ask themselves why their long-awaited path to grandness had to be abruptly interrupted by a tsunami of political scandals and a nightmarish economic recession. After all, for over a decade they had grown used to being so close to the top five. How will they now cope with their deepening predicament?
Well, no one could have predicted the extent of damage to the economy made by 14 years of populism. Some may panic while part of the press tends to overestimate trouble. Plainly, the country is not falling apart just yet. Much less is there any possibility of serious social tension or conflict. With only 9% support to the government, the president’s departure instead is favored by a landslide majority.
In a nutshell Rousseff, Lula and the PT worker’s party refuse to let go of power, even though striking legal evidence against them adds up every day. Their destiny now hangs in the balance at different simultaneous fronts – all of them constitutional – as the ailing leaders vociferate their obstinacy with increasing despair and incoherence.
For now, with the establishment still in their hands, they have opted for the ludicrous strategy of trying to win last minute votes from opportunistic congressmen, in the aim to escape impeachment. However their ability to influence either Legislative or Judiciary crumbles at the same rate as public exposure of their moral and judicial decay increases.
With the 1964-1985 totalitarian interim all but forgotten, Brazil remains very sensitive to any hint of institutional breach. Hence there is no chance whatsoever that rules are broken in the process of delivering justice to those accountable and lawfully overthrowing the regime. It is only reasonable that so much zeal demands a painstaking process currently in motion.
Developments that point at an abbreviation of the presidential mandate invariably benefit economic indexes. While inflation slowly loses momentum, export segments finally reemerge. Although employment and consumption remain on the downside, experts speaking on the niche of luxury items are warning hasted quitters of their possible regret by the time the storm dies down. Other economists will stress on the instant positive effect of eventual political change. We are sure to follow it all up.
