angelburst29
The Living Force
latulipenoire said:
From what I can piece together, the current Brazilian President Temer was the former President Dilma Rousseff - Vice President and worked with the U.S. to oust Rousseff - so he could take her position. Rousseff was deeply involved with BRICS and working towards Brazil being part of the "Silk Road" in trade agreements. Brazil’s national oil company, Petrobas was destined to be involved in those trade agreements and investment options.
The U.S. used Temer to get control of Petrobas but Temer was just as greedy and demanded large sums of money from the oil company. Like the U.S., a good portion of Brazil's Congress "is bought and paid for" and the corruption charges against Temer were dropped. Right after the verdict came in, Temer called on Mercosur to suspend Venezuela - with the support of the Organization of American States (OAS) to help push it through. Nice little game they have going on?
Despite 5 Percent Approval Rating, Brazil’s Temer Survives Corruption Vote
https://sputniknews.com/latam/201708051056201269-michel-temer-survives-corruption-vote/
The 342 votes threshold for the motion pass wasn’t met, as 263 voted against the motion and 227 voted in favor in the 513-seat chamber. Temer was accused of pressuring a top executive in Brazil’s national oil company, Petrobas, into giving him hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign money.
Radio Sputnik’s Loud and Clear speaks with Dr. Francisco Dominguez, head of the Centre for Brazilian and Latin American Studies about the vote and why the US has remained relatively quiet about what he calls the erosion of the rule of law in Brazil while salivating over the current political unrest in Venezuela.
Dominguez said there had already been large general strikes in Brazil following the 2016 ouster of former President Dilma Rousseff of the Worker’s Party, including one that garnered the support of 45 million workers because, having expelled her, "the government is violating the constitution and the law literally every single minute of the day."
Temer, who was once Rousseff’s vice president, became a key player in impeachment proceedings against her.
Temer’s colleagues in Congress essentially attempted to sweep the charges against the president under the rug, "which is absolutely unbelieveable," Dominguez said. "Anywhere else in the world where there is something called the rule of law, on the basis of irrefutable evidence of corruption which blatant, flagrant and open … something should’ve been done about it. Because of the constitutional arrangement in Brazil, they decided by a simple vote to stop it."
"The situation was that there was absolutely irrefutable evidence which was in the public domain, publicized and processed by people from the judiciary, but the kleptocrats decided they had the numbers to save [Temer’s] skin," he said.
Dominguez believes that ultimately greed and self interest drove yesterday’s decision. "If they were to accept the charges and trial against Michel Temer, they would be completely open themselves to be liable to be investigated and tried for corruption," he said, "because about 40 to 60 percent of the people in Congress actually face these kinds of charges and some have been convicted of corruption."
Loud and Clear Host Brian Becker pointed out that there hasn’t been any outcry from the US government about Temer and asked Dominguez why he thought that was so.
"The key to the US double standard is a huge amount of very rich, wealthy, lucrative operations… such as the oil industry, which is being privatized," in Brazil, Dominguez replied.
Becker noted that although Washington has not weighed in on Brazilian government affairs, it has been very vocal on the recent political turmoil in Venezuela. Dominguez said this is because "Venezuela is blessed and cursed with having some of the largest oil reserves on the planet, and the United States is absolutely determined to lay their hands on it."
"The one thing the United States doesn’t like is national sovereignty," he said. "If you look at the United States attitude toward the Temer government and the Maduro government, it couldn’t be more stark."
Venezuela to Remain in Mercosur Despite Decision to Suspend Country's Membership
https://sputniknews.com/latam/201708061056221304-venezuela-mercosur-membership/
On Saturday, foreign ministers of Mercosur, which brings together Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, decided to suspend the latter's membership due to the violation of democratic principles in the country following the election of the Constituent Assembly, which will be charged with rewriting the constitution.
Venezuela will never be removed from Mercosur. Our soul, heart and life are in Mercosur. Some conspiratorial oligarchies, like in Brazil, or pathetic governments, like in Argentina, can even try to do it a thousand times, but we will always be there," Maduro said Saturday as quoted by Excelsior news portal.
Later on Saturday, the leadership of the Organization of American States (OAS) supported the Mercosur decision on Venezuela.
"The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (GS/OAS) expresses it support for the decision adopted today to suspend the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela from MERCOSUR… Democracy and human rights are inalienable principles in the Americas, and their defense and promotion are fundamental values to the community of States that make up the OAS," OAS said in a statement.
The OAS also called on Caracas for stopping "the repression in the country" and establishment of an electoral calendar which includes presidential elections in 2017, as well as the restoration of the full powers of the National Assembly.
