Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's supporters took to the streets on Friday to fight back at attempts to oust her, as a flurry of court battles raged over her controversial cabinet appointment of predecessor Lula da Silva. Waving the red flags of the ruling Workers' Party, (PT) tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the country's largest city, Sao Paulo, greeting Lula with thunderous cheers when he was hoisted onto a parked truck to address the crowd.
Brazilian share prices surged on Thursday to close 6.6% higher, a seven-year record, after fresh setbacks to populist President Dilma Rousseff raised the prospect of her being driven from power.
When a poor man steals, he ends in jail; when a rich man steals he is named minister, the phrase belongs to Lula da Silva back in 1998 when he was leading the opposition, and it is now being repeated in social networks. In effect, on Wednesday Lula was named chief of staff by president Dilma Rousseff, who also phoned him to tell him she would be sending him the official decree on his nomination, so that he make use of it if necessary.
Protests erupted in Brazilian cities on Wednesday after President Dilma Rousseff named her predecessor Lula da Silva chief of staff and a taped telephone conversation fed opposition claims the appointment was meant to shield Lula from prosecution.
Brazil's ex-president Lula da Silva will accept a position in his successor's cabinet, according to a leading national newspaper, in order to protect himself from prosecution in a corruption case involving the state-run oil company, Petrobras. Rio-based O Globo newspaper reported on Tuesday that Lula had told several close advisers that he would rejoin the cabinet, citing no sources. Brazilian markets and currency collapsed on the news.
Prosecutors in Brazil asked Wednesday that powerful ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was questioned this week in a huge corruption probe, be placed under formal investigation. The press service of the Sao Paulo state prosecutors' office said precise details of the request were not yet known and that a news conference would be held Thursday.
Brazilian construction tycoon Marcelo Odebrecht, 47, was sentenced Tuesday to 19 years in prison for corruption and money laundering in the giant Petrobras embezzlement scandal shaking Latin America's biggest country Petrobras in what prosecution has identified as Operation Car Wash.
Senior judges in Brazil voiced concern over the detention of former President Lula da Silva, even as they threw their support behind the sweeping corruption investigation that threatens to topple his embattled successor. Lula’s three hours of questioning in police custody on Friday was the highest profile development in the two-year probe focused on state oil firm Petrobras.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is fighting for her political life in Congress, the courts and streets this week, but her path to survival has got ever narrower, analysts said on Monday. Rousseff faces impeachment proceedings over alleged fiscal mismanagement, while the Supreme Electoral Court is considering possible campaign funding irregularities that could end up annulling her 2014 reelection.
Argentine foreign minister Susana Malcorra sided with former president Lula da Silva arguing that it is hard to believe that a leader with such a record is under a criminal investigation, and underlined that all the economic and political scenario of Brazil has a great impact in Argentina.