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Brazilian President Michel Temer let an open secret become explicitly clear during a speech to business and foreign policy leaders yesterday in New York. The country’s elected and now-removed President, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached because of her position on economic policy, rather than any alleged wrongdoing on her part, her installed successor admitted. Temer’s stunning, and seemingly unscripted, acknowledgement will surely bolster the view of impeachment opponents that Dilma’s removal was a “parliamentary coup d’etat.”
In his remarks, Temer clearly stated what impeachment opponents have long maintained: that he and his party began to agitate for Rousseff’s impeachment when she refused to implement the pro-business economic plan of Temer’s party. That economic plan which Rousseff refused to implement called for widespread cuts to social programs and privatization, an agenda radically different from the one approved by Brazilians through the ballot box in 2014, when Dilma’s Workers’ Party won its fourth straight presidential election. The comments were delivered on Wednesday to an audience at the New York headquarters of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA).
Watch the video:
“And many months ago, while I was still vice president, we released a document named ‘A Bridge to the Future’ because we knew it would be impossible for the government to continue on that course. We suggested that the government should adopt the theses presented in that document called ‘A Bridge to the Future.’ But, as that did not work out, the plan wasn’t adopted and a process was established which culminated with me being installed as president of the republic.”
When impeachment proceedings began, Temer was serving as Rousseff’s Vice president and his party, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), were once close partners with Rousseff’s Workers’ Party (PT). However, they officially broke their alliance in late March, supporting her impeachment and aligning with a right-wing coalition supported by business leaders and conservative ideologues. It is that center-right coalition that now controls the government in post-impeachment Brazil.
The program “Bridge to the Future” – proposed by Temer’s party – prescribes cuts to health and education spending, reduced welfare benefits, a raised retirement age, new private sector partnerships and decreased market regulations. These ideas were the ones Temer advocated in his speech yesterday at AS/COA, which emphasized his government’s push for privatization and foreign investment. The newly installed President listed the multiple benefits and guarantees that his government intends to offer foreign investors. Those benefits including guaranteeing the profit margins of the business leaders who watched him speak while consuming their meals.
The AS/COA groups which Temer addressed is composed of members of multinational corporations and the U.S. foreign policy establishment focused on Latin America. Both were founded by the American industrialist David Rockefeller and have as its President Emeritus John Negroponte: the former Reagan and Bush administration ambassador and neoconservative hawk influential in the CIA’s dirty war in Honduras and the 2003 invasion of Iraq who is now a prominent supporter of Hillary Clinton. On its website, the Council of the Americas describes itself as an “international business organization whose members share a common commitment to economic and social development, open markets, the rule of law, and democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere.”
Temer’s sales pitch was chock full of standard neoliberal euphemisms and buzzwords, including the “universalization of the Brazilian market,” “reestablishing trust,” “extraordinary political stability,” public-private partnerships, and the implementation of “fundamental reforms” in areas like labor law, social security and public spending. “I come here to invite you to take part in the country’s new phase of growth,” he proclaimed.
Temer’s comments are yet more confirmation that Rousseff’s impeachment did not occur due to alleged budget tricks, as the Brazilian media and the country’s now-ruling faction regularly claims. Nor was it for the traditional Brazilian family, nor for God, or against corruption, as congresspeople claimed during their “yes” votes. It was conducted on behalf of the interests of business owners and to the detriment of workers. It was for an agenda of impunity, profit, and power that would never be ratified democratically by the Brazilian voting population at the ballot box, and was thus imposed on them under the guise of upholding the law. Anyone still doubting that should simply listen to what the prime beneficiary of impeachment, Michel Temer, just said to his most important constituency.
Anyone with two brain cells know that the impeachment was not motivated by corruption, otherwise every level of government in Brazil would have to be cleared of every single individual, from the janitor in a municipal public school, to the new country’s president. That Temer has openly admitted, its surprising nonetheless. I thought he would be a little more candid.
However, to say that the impeachment “was conducted on behalf of the interests of business owners and to the detriment of workers. It was for an agenda of impunity, profit, and power that would never be ratified democratically by the Brazilian voting population at the ballot box” it’s just silly and at least misinformed.
PT and it’s partners, including PMDB and Temer, developed large and complex corruption systems to funel money from state owned companies into the party coffers, and there has been NO CHARGES brought against any politician involved. So, to affirm that the new government of Temer is here now to establish IMPUNITY, it’s just a joke!
The Brazilian economy under PT was simply being fed by billions generated by the boom in the commodities prices, once those prices tanked, the government found itself broke, and the whole economy went with it. Whats was the result of that? Millions of unemployed and recession. So I ask you Inácio Vieira, who’s working against the “working classes of Brazil”???
I enjoy reading The Intercept for its independent journalism when covering world affairs, but regarding Brazilian coverage, you guys really need to step up the game. Simplistic articles, with no real understanding and impartiality are essential. This piece its just like something written by a 22 years old college student who still sees the world as lefty goodies, righties baddies.
I’ll say this again, with all due respect, but please read John Perkins book, “The New Confessions of an Economic Hitman” and then come back to your comment here to see if you still think the same.
What happened in Brazil seems like a crude cut and paste job when it comes to how the government and economy was setup, manipulated, and quickly devoured by private interests that have not even come close to being called out in the news. The Intercept is as close as anyone to putting their finger on the pulse of the problem.
Please give that book a chance. If you still think I’m crazy or rude, I’m all ears.
Everyone with half a brain already knew that the votes necessary to impeach her only came because she lost support, and she lost support because of the biggest recession ever, created by her economic plan, plan that she doubled down after it was already failing. The impeachment itself had legal constitutional reason, not to mention the other crimes she did that are stuck in the supreme justice, still, obviously that she lost the governments and population support due to her failed economic plan, if the country was soaring people would let her criminal ass and turn a blind eye, just like Brazil did with Lula during the mensalão. Mensalão was the biggest crime you can have in a democracy, and still, because the economy was growing, Lula had enough support to supress any acusations by simply trading government roles between people that could bring him down.
So yeah, what Temer said not only isnt news, it has always been obvious to anyone following brazilian politics, to sum up, Collor was impeachment because the country was in an economic crisis, Lula was saved from a scandal because the economy was great, and Dilma’s impeachment progressed because she ruined the countries economy and denied any change from her plan.
This article is irrelevant. It is not possible to be impeached without first loosing support of Congress and it is not surprising to see a coalition break apart for ideological reasons.
It is pretty obvious that there would not have been any impeachment if the coalition between PT and PMDB had not fallen apart. After all, the impeachment process starts when Congress accepts it. Therefore, it follows that PMDB walked away from the coalition and it would not have been any surprise if ideology was partly to blame. Isn’t that clear enough?
The writer then incorrectly jumps to the conclusion (or perhaps he wants the reader to do so) that Dilma must not have committed any irregularities while in power. What? The ideological fallout between both parties does not rule out the possibility of irregularities. The irregularities were a necessity in order to make the impeachment legal and they were fairly well documented.
Keep in mind that, it is probably for this very same reason that Lula was not impeached during the Mensalao scandal. It is entirely possible for a president to commit irregularities and face no impeachment process because he has support in Congress.
This writer is ignorant. He knows nothing about what is going on in Brazil.
Who knows what is happening in Brazil? You, as a Veja’s reader and Globo’s watcher?
Impeachment will become a common occurance in Brazilian politics.
Ignacio: you and Glenn are providing a great service to the people in your coverage in both Brazil and the US. I follow the news at The Intercept everyday, and find the posts shared in social media increasing. Keep going. Don’t stop. Many thanks.
Please correct your headline and terminology when referring to Temer. He is not a president; he is a dictator. He came to power through a coup. He wasn’t elected democratically. He seized power and has no intention of letting it go.
Who elected Temer? CIA, Wall Street, the 1%, etc…This is what I call the new and Democratic Plan Condor for Latin America. Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize new legacy. And then Obama goes to the UN and preaches the world. This guy should get another Nobel Prize: “The Nobel Prize for the most hypocritical president of the world.”
Quem governou em detrimento dos trabalhadores?? Você está muito mal informado. 1) Gustavo Loyola, ex-presidente do BC, declarou que a bolsa empresário de Lula-Dilma custou R$ 300 bilhões ao povo brasileiro.
2) Os programas sociais tiveram cortes de até 87%.
3) 12 milhões de desempregados.
4) Nos últimos 5 anos, 24 mil leitos de hospital deixaram de existir.
5) 10 milhões de pessoas já voltaram para a pobreza.
6) MPF mostrou que o Bolsa Família pagou mais de R$ 2,5 bilhões entre 2013 e 2014 para pessoas que não tinham direito: 584 mil funcionários públicos, 318 mil empresários e 49 mil mortos. O MPF também encontrou 331 mil beneficiários sem CPF e 39 mil com 2 CPFs e 90 mil beneficiários do Bolsa Família que, em 2014, doaram a políticos ou ao PT valores iguais aos que recebiam durante todo o ano do programa. Recebiam o dinheiro do Bolsa Família e devolviam ao partido
7) O programa Minha casa, minha vida perdeu 74% das verbas.
8) O Pronatec perdeu 59% das verbas.
9) Dilma só executou 10,3% do PAC.
10) CGU apontou 47 mortos que tiveram bolsas de estudo pelo Prouni.
11) A Reforma agrária teve 578 mil beneficiários irregulares (políticos, empresários e funcionários públicos), incluindo entre eles 38 mil mortos.
12) IDH em 2002 era 0,757, IDH em 2015 era de 0,755.
13) Só 1,8% das pedaladas foram para os pobres.
14) Cabidão de Dilma: as 135 estatais federais acrescentaram a seu quadro de funcionários 55.836 pessoas entre 2010 e 2014. Segundo o EBC o número de servidores cresceu 180%.
15) FI-FGTS perdeu R$ 900 milhões do seu patrimônio líquido em investimentos em empresas investigadas pela Lava Jato.
16) Operação Custo Brasil: o PT roubou R$ 100 milhões diretamente do contracheque de aposentados endividados e servidores públicos.
17) 45 mil pescadores em Brasília recebendo o seguro defeso. Onde eles pescavam? No lago Paranoá?
18) O MEC perdeu R$ 10 bilhões ou 10% do orçamento em 2015, ano do slogan “Pátria Educadora”
19) Em março de 2016, em edição extra do D.O., a Educação perdeu mais R$ 4,2 bilhões.
20) As classes D e E aumentaram e até o fim de 2016 vão ganhar cerca de 8 milhões de brasileiros. Se a economia não melhorar, haverá mais pobres em 2018 do que havia em 2005.
21) O “Valor Econômico” publicou que o Brasil deve fechar o triênio 2014-2016 com a segunda maior queda na renda per capita em 116 anos.
22) Com as pedaladas, os bancos jogaram na economia R$72,4 bilhões de dinheiro sem lastro (dinheiro eletrônico), numa medida altamente inflacionária.
23) O PT causou um rombo de mais de R$ 44 bilhões nos fundos de pensão de estatais. Serão diretamente prejudicadas 500 mil pessoas.
24) Segundo dados do IBGE, a massa salarial (a soma dos salários dos trabalhadores tirando a inflação) encolheu quase R$ 10 bilhões desde o fim de 2014. O indicador não voltará ao nível anterior antes de, pelo menos, 2 anos.
25) A herança que o PT nos deixou está exemplificada no fato de junho ter sido o 15º mês seguido de emprego em queda. O Brasil fechou 531,7 mil vagas de emprego no 1º semestre de 2016. É o pior resultado para o período desde 2002, segundo o CAGED.
I want to praise Intercept for publishing these statements because it appears no other media publication, even on the left, has done it.
But I also must also must say that the conclusion that this prove the true motivation of the impeachment was to defend business interests is a non-sequitur. After all, there are a myriad of motivations, by multiple different segmentd in congress, the senate and society at large. This proves perhaps one of Temer’s motivations, not everyone else’s. I think many Senators votes for impeachment for governability, as in a vote of non confidence that exists in parlientarism, and now clearly exists de facto in Brazilian “coalition presidencialism”.
In society at large, for many people, though not all, the motivations was indeed workers’ interests. One huge example is the frauds perpretated against the retirement funds of workers from the state-owned companies, like the postal office, federal credit unions and banks, even Petrobras itself. Many thousands, perhaps millions of workers and retirees have suffered severe cuts to their earnings due to fraud, mismanagent and political interference against these funds, Postalis, Funcef, etc, by the administration of Dilma and Lula. This is a fact, these workers were organized and out on the streets demanding Dilma’s impeachment and you can’t erase their motivations based on Temer’s or anyone elses.
There are many “real reasons” why the impeachment took place.
Well now, that didn’t take long, did it?
Now that this admission has been made, it will be fun to see how the US policy-makers squirm to answer questions about whether or not they will support Temer’s government.
Odds on Favor: US Policy makers will either try to ignore it or label it as ‘Old News’.
Other option will be to simply state: Let’s not Look Backwards, But Forwards.
When they should have been covering their faces with hands, it’s perhaps fitting in a room full of visibly tight lips it was Temer’s loose pair trying to sink their ship.
Nothing about unfettered greed, especially in OUR world’s current circumstances, is intelligent.
It’s purest evil.
The author of this article must be smoking something and making him hallucinate. This was not a slip of the tongue. Dilma cooked the books as a consequence of her disastrous government. What Temer said is that if she had followed his party suggestions, she would not have to cook the books and manipulate the budget the way she did. Then, she cooked the books she committed a crime by the Brazilian constitution. Mr. Inacio Vieira, if you are a reporter (which would be hard to believe), you are not worthy of your profession. You should not fabricate news. But then again, what should one expect from people that support Lula, Dilma and the most corrupt people to walk the face of the planet. You are probably one of them. This is a dishonest article.
That’s simply not true. That’s not what Temer said. He was referring to Bridge to the Future, which was his economic policy platform that he had put forward. Nothing to do with the budget maneuvers that were the official cause for the impeachment.
Neoliberalism is a deadly plaque spreading across the globe. Revolt is all we have left.
After this unbelievable speech I have a lot of doubts if any serious american company will invest one U$ dollar in Brazil. This one more clear proof of the coup. Temer Get Out!
Temer’s comment was taken 1000000000% out of context. Dilma is corrupt like the rest of her PT party and her followers. She broke the law and that is why she was impeached. You must be corrupt too and you should have your morals and ethics checked and revised.
No Sir. I´m not a corrupt. But you probably must be a brazilian coxinha or a fake american.
Agreed with J. Conselheiro, some commenters are painfully obvious with their deceitful attempts to mislead, denounce, or confuse those who have done the hard work of searching and finding the truth behind the obvious.
I’m quite grateful for The Intercept publishing this article, among so many other needed articles, so there can be a chance at saving even a fragment of society from drinking too much Kool-Aid. If anyone wants to doubt the information provided within this article, or others related to it, I implore you to read John Perkins book, “The New Confessions of an Economic Hitman” and then decide what information sounds more likely. The owners of mainstream media outlets have their reasons for publishing or not publishing stories, or all necessary info within those stories, and it’s incredibly naive to not consider those motivations when conflicting information is published elsewhere, like The Intercept.
Brazil’s story angerly mirrors so many other countries that were targeted, manipulated, and subsequently pillaged by private interests within US and multinational elites. Please read that book and decide for yourself.
So the third world has now finally matched the political corruption level of the US.
I don’t think it has matched yet. Many egregious corrupt practices are perfectly legal in the US, but not in Brazil.
“egregious corrupt practices are perfectly legal in the US”
Which ones?
Chinese companies funnelling money through super PACs into the pockets of friendly senators to influence domestic regulations?