With the arrest yesterday of the PT leader in the senate the corruption scandal is getting closer and closer to Lula - will he "finally" be implicated ? One of his sons has clearly been abusing his connection to his father and now with the arrest of another one of Lulas must thrusted poltical allies it is getting more and more difficult to beleive that he did not know anything
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/n … corruptionhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2 … president/
The first sitting senate member to be arrested since the end of the military rule apparently, and the arrest could have been stopped by his fellow senate members since they can overrule the courts but he lost the vote by a big majority and was arrested. This is a big deal - congress members in Brasilia has always protected each other no matter what the courts says - after all, one third of the members are under investigation for anything from murder to corruption - but as long as they protect each other the courts can not touch them.
Why did they not stop the arrest ? Are they ganging up on PT to stop the investigation ? I have no idea but this whole story is getting just as inprobable as a Brazilian novela.
Some commentators say this will implicate Dilma in the corruption - i do not agree. I still beleives she has no clue and is, and has been, a pawn for much more sinister members of both her own party and other members in the government. Maybe it is just wishful thinking. But i have a much bigger suspition towards Lula and if it turns out he really was involved it is an almost unbeliveable betrayal of the the working class and the poor in Brazil - how can they ever regain trust if even he has been cheating them !
Is Lula finally falling ?
I think in the end the "old boys club" that exists in this country's political structure will get together to cover each other's butts as they have always done before. After all they're all as crooked as corkscrews and if one falls they all do. At the end of the day, they're all the same - or as Brazilians say "são farinha do mesmo saco!", as this photo of Dilma, and ex-presidents Lula, Cardoso, Sarney and Collor all buddy-buddy below tends to prove.
Cheers,
James Expat-blog Experts Team
Maybe you are right James
But the picture is just a photo-op of present and former presidents - not really fair to use that as a evidence of friendship.
I really doubt that Cardoso and Collor is friends or has even been friends
But in the article it was written that Almaral was the first sitting senator who has been arrested - what about Collor? He was banned from politics for eight years after he resigned as president but when he was arrested this year he was a member on the senate ? Was he not arrested or is it an error in the article ? Anyone who can enligthen us ?
Cabo Frio wrote:Maybe you are right James
But the picture is just a photo-op of present and former presidents - not really fair to use that as a evidence of friendship.
I really doubt that Cardoso and Collor is friends or has even been friends
But in the article it was written that Almaral was the first sitting senator who has been arrested - what about Collor? He was banned from politics for eight years after he resigned as president but when he was arrested this year he was a member on the senate ? Was he not arrested or is it an error in the article ? Anyone who can enligthen us ?
I have to agree with Cabo Frio - that picture of the presidents was clearly a photo op, and I don't think it's evidence that they're all chummy. (Though I have no doubt that they're all corrupt!)
I don't know if the arrest of Senator Amaral means that things in Brazil are indeed changing...or if he just pissed off someone enough that the other person decided it would be fun to throw Amaral's ass in jail for a few days, but it's surely an interesting turn of events. I wonder if his fellow senators will protect him and let him off the hook.
"Normal congress business has been suspended until senators meet to weigh their response to Amaral's arrest. Under Brazil's constitution, the senate can reject a supreme court decision to arrest a senator."
Senior Brazilian senator and billionaire CEO arrested
Yes, the photo of Dilma and all of the ex-presidents together was a photo op for sure, but despite that fact they really are all that chummy. While publicly they may at times be critical of one or they other, in private they all cover each other's butts, make backroom deals, and swap ideas on how to skim ever greater amounts off the top of the public purse.
I don't see the arrest of Senator Delcidio Amaral as any kind of sign that things are changing. 14 years here in Brazil have taught me to be very skeptical of how things appear, because here they're generally exactly the opposite. Amaral was arrested simply because he got caught red handed trying to use his position as a Senator to interfere with an ongoing Federal Police investigation, suggest to one of the family members of a defendant and star prosecution witness in that case, that he should flee the country, offering to bankroll the escape and even pay a monthly allowance, in order that he himself doesn't get caught up in the whole mess.
Pissed somebody off??? Big time!!! He's PO'd the Federal Police who have been fighting very hard through the last Lula term of office and all of Dilma's administration to retain their autonomy and authority. Both the president and ex-president have, for obvious reasons, been trying desparately to strip the Federal Police of a great deal of their authority and independence. Thank God, they have not succeeded. I think the arrest of Amaral is just the beginning. Will it go all the way to the top and reach Lula and/or Dilma.... not a chance in Hell that will ever happen. This is Brazil and it won't even effect any of the former presidents who are all just as dirty either.
Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team
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