Brazilian first female President Dilma Rousseff is being investigated by Brazil’s Congress and could be impeached. Rousseff is the first president to face such an investigation in over 20 years.
Congress launched the investigation at the behest of Eduardo Cunha, president of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil’s equivalent of the speaker of the House).
Rousseff is accused of artificially padded the government’s finances before a close reelection last year to ensure a victory. She categorically denied any wrongdoing and instead accused Cunha of being politically opportunistic since he is also under investigation. Cunha is charged with corruption and money laundering for soliciting and receiving bribes from individuals with ties to Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras in what is known as the “Lava Jato” (Car Wash) Investigation. Cunha has been found to have Swiss bank accounts with millions he did not publicly declare to Brazil’s tax authorities.
PhD Eduardo Svartman Munhoz, a visiting scholar and adjunct professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University, says “I don’t believe President Rousseff will be removed, there isn’t any evidence yet that she is involved. This impeachment committee was established by the President of the Chamber of Deputies (Eduardo Cunha) more as a retaliation against the government for not stopping investigations into his alleged corruption rather than as a genuine investigation.”
When asked how U.S.-Brazil relations will be affected if Rousseff is ousted from office, Munhoz stated, “Such a crisis in Brazil would not only affect relations with the U.S. but in all of South America, if an impeachment happens, but I don’t think it will happen. But if [Rousseff] is impeached, a wave of instability might shake the region and the consolidation of democracy.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, markets rallied in Brazil upon the announcement of the start of impeachment proceedings. Many are hoping once the power struggle between Rousseff and Cunha comes to an end Brazil’s economic situation will improve. For Brazil, this will soon be its worst economic slump since the Great Depression.
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