The push to impeach Brazil’s president is part of a regional plan by global elites aimed at weakening the Latin American powerhouse and potentially undermining the BRICS alliance, political analyst and international consultant Adrian Salbuchi told RT.
The Brazilian Senate has voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff and put her on trial over alleged involvement in corruption. Rousseff, however, has denied all charges saying she was the “victim of a coup.”
RT: Brazil’s Vice President Michel Temer seems to be lining himself up to take over. But recent opinions polls say he’s only got an approval rating of one or two percent. How could a figure like him take over a country with so little support?
Adrian Salbuchi: Well, basically he was part of the coalition government where you have the Worker’s Party – that is Dilma Rouseff’s and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s – and he is right-of-center of the PMDB, the Democratic Movement Party of Brazil. We’ve seen this happening again and again in just about every country in Latin America, where the divide is about 50 percent left-wing, 50 percent right-wing. He will be a very uneasy president to lead this country. He is not charismatic, is not very much a light as Ms Rousseff was.
And I think that it poses a great threat to Brazil’s political and economic future. We must not forget that this now beholds a great impact on Latin America but Brazil is also the ‘B’ in BRICS. So this is really very important, to the transcendental situation that we are having, and a lot depends on how well or how badly Mr Temer will fare.
All left-of-center governments throughout Latin America are waning and right-of-center governments are coming in strong. So I think that ... behind Mr Temer there ... [is] a lot of, shall we say, right-wing financial support not just from Brazil but from the global power system as a whole.
RT: How do you think this will play in for the future of Brazil’s economy, too? Mr Temer supports big business but also he supports austerity, too. It’s not necessarily good for an average person on the street on short term, is it?
AS: It’s very bad. I think that he will have support from financial circles, as President Mauricio Macri who only took off this last December in Argentina, in my country, has; he is also very right-of-center. And I think just as Argentina is again moving towards austerity for the people, but good business for the major corporations and the banks, we can expect a similar movement to take place in Brazil where there will be growing austerity for the people – Brazil has had three to four years of recession, practically – but there will be a lot of business for the banks and the major corporations.
So I think to understand what’s happening in Brazil, to understand what’s happening in Argentina as well, one has to understand that this is part of a global process whereby all of Latin America is practically being dragged towards, shall we say, the financial circles’ and corporations’ interests. And we would also see a greater impact in a few months down the road after the American elections. The United States has great-great sway over all of Latin America which it colloquially calls its own backyard.
RT: A lot of people in Brazil are upset with Dilma Rousseff and what is going on in the government there. But do you really think their prayers will be answered by a new movement coming in and looking towards austerity, too. Do you see this as sort of a coming influence or are you expecting more turmoil?
AS: One could expect a lot more turmoil. There was already a lot of turmoil over the past years in Brazil because of the World Cup expenses and now they have the Olympics this year, just a few months down the road. So I think we shall be seeing a growing experiment, shall we call it, a global experiment of getting police forces, which are basically poor people, to fight against protesting workers, who are also, basically, poor people, while the major power circles will look down on this from their 40th or 50th floor boardroom.
So I think that there will be a lot of turmoil in Brazil just as there is in Argentina and will be a part of a regional phenomenon which will increasingly create hardship and split and weaken sovereign states.
That’s a very important point, because Brazil is the powerhouse, the industrial powerhouse of Latin America, and weakening Brazil has dire consequences not just for Latin America as a whole, but for the BRICS alliance which is just growing to counter-balance the Western power elite and traditional financial and industrial structures.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.