MAY 28, 2019
“Right now, there’s a good chance that the presidency of Jair
Bolsonaro in Brazil, be very brief. The word impeachment is already
part of the current language in the media and social networks in the South
American giant.”
At least that’s what Andrés
Ferrari Haines, a professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
(UFRGS), Brazil, wrote in an article published, on May 21, by the Argentinean
newspaper “Página 12”.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, the
president’s son warned in Buenos Aires that an electoral victory of Cristina
Fernandez de Kirchner’s would represent the risk of turning Argentina into
another Venezuela.
Curiously, says the
newspaper, his father is achieving in Brazil what mercenary Juan Guaidó could
not achieve in Venezuela: to have protests everywhere promoting the rule of law
and opposition to the President.
A historic march took place
on Wednesday, May 15, in which nearly two million people took to the streets in
200 Brazilian cities to protest against the budget cuts in education. It was a
turning point in the rejection of President Jair Bolsonaro, his children and
several personalities close to him.
Those who, during his
electoral campaign thought that his violent and bellicose style was part of an
electoral strategy to attack his opponents are realizing that this is a trait
of his personality.
It seems that his capacity
for dialogue is zero, and he can only express himself aggressively –even if
this might not be his intention.
One could think that
Bolsonaro, together with his sons, tried to strengthen his image in a direct
relationship with his electoral base, discrediting sectors that were part of
the coalition government, such as the military, which occupy several positions
in allied political parties.
Even more serious, in the
field of the economy has been the appointment of his “super minister” Paulo
Guedes, an extreme neoliberal choice, submissive to U.S. capital, especially to
those that seek the extreme exploitation of natural resources and the control
of state financial institutions and companies such as Petrobras.
In his strategy, Guedes
placed all his chips in favor of the approval of a brutal reform aimed at
preventing an “inevitable” economic catastrophe. Here he is meeting great
resistance in and out of parliament.
It is a strategy of
submission to private activity that launched Minister of Education Weintraub
who, summoned by Congress, in the midst of a student protest, made it clear
that the objective was not to cut the educational budget, but to extinguish the
public education system.
In line with his President,
the minister ignored the students and affirmed that “the graduates of the
Brazilian public universities don’t know anything.”
The reality, however, has
demonstrated the opposite: public schools are at the top of the list in the
national ranking –with only two or three private ones– in the front rank. Even
more so: the public ones are among the first in comparisons with those in
emerging countries, and some have reputable placements at the international
level. Thus, it is clear that there is no basis whatsoever for the government
project aimed at dismantling public education to the benefit of private
education that the minister so much praises.
For his part, Foreign
Minister Ernesto Araújo aligned Brazil’s foreign policy to the United States in
a moralistic crusade that identifies “globalization” with a process driven by
“cultural Marxism” and climate risks with a “communist conspiracy”, even at the
expense of losing important foreign markets.
Meanwhile, the economy comes
to a standstill, the stock market falls and the dollar soars.
In addition, it has become
known that consulting firm A.T. Kearney removed Brazil –for the first time—from
the top 25 destinations for the United States investors. During the
government of Dilma Rousseff, Brazil was in third place.
Bolsonaro was losing so much
support in the last week that even his “guru,” astrologer Olavo de Carvalho,
predicted that he will abandon politics in Brazil.
The Brasil LIbre
[Free Brazil] Movement, a great player in the fall of Rousseff and in the
anti-PT wave, also announced it's breaking up Bolsonaro.
The students are calling for
a mobilization on May 30 and, in addition, they have joined the General Strike,
on June 14, against Bolsonaro’s reforms.
The main print media, O
Globo de Rio and Folha do Estado de Sao Paulo, in their editorials
are very critical of the political maneuvers of the President and his attacks
on democracy.
Investigations of corruption
and illicit association against one of his sons, Flavio, are growing every day,
and affect nearly one hundred people who were hired or moved fortunes in
connection with his office, including the President’s wife herself.
Manuel E. Yepe is a lawyer, economist and journalist. He is a
professor at the Higher Institute of International Relations in Havana.
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