From Good Reads, by OBenario:The Campaign to Impeach Brazil’s President Sends a Perverse Message to
The Campaign to Impeach Brazil’s President Sends a Perverse Message to Corrupt Politicians
This article was posted earlier by DU'er OBenario:
Source: The Huffington Post
After Brazil’s congressmen voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff last Sunday, the speaker of the lower house of congress, Eduardo Cunha, who dragged her to the edge of the political abyss, has bolstered his own chances of political survival. The contrasting fortunes of Dilma, who has never been accused of personally taking bribes, and Cunha, who has recently been indicted by the Supreme Court for pocketing millions of dollars of kickbacks, sets a terrible precedent for Brazil’s notoriously corrupt politicians.
Many supporters of impeachment see the removal of Dilma as the first step in a clean-out of crooked political leaders, with Vice President Michel Temer and Cunha next in line. However, unlike Big Brother - the reality TV show that is still wildly popular in Brazil - the public do not get a chance to evict unpopular politicians every week. Instead, the impeachment drive has raised the likelihood that Cunha will survive the onslaught of corruption allegations against him.
In exchange for orchestrating the impeachment proceedings against Dilma, Cunha’s allies have pushed for congress to grant him “amnesty”. Federal Deputy Paulinho da Força, who was asked by reporters whether his ally Cunha had won support among colleagues as a result of orchestrating the vote against Dilma, said that “he gained strength - it’s thanks to him that impeachment passed.”
In most other democracies, politicians in Cunha’s situation would have been forced to resign long ago, but in Brazil, he is more powerful than ever. His allies now argue that he has enough support among key party leaders and members of the Congressional Ethics Committee to block a motion that would oust him as leader for lying to congress about secret bank accounts he has held abroad. Meanwhile, it could take years before the Supreme Court decides the corruption case against him.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-w-gross/campaign-impeach-brazil-president-sends-bad-message_b_9742220.html
Good Reads:
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