Brazilian politics and its vast corruption is once again in the news. This time it has to do with the expulsion of Eduardo Cunha, the former speaker of Brazil’s lower house of Congress who led the process in removing Brazil’s former president, Dilma Rousseff, from office. According to this article Cunha has lost all rights and privileges that protect federal legislators from being imprisoned due to the chamber voting 450 to 10 to remove him. As a result he is ineligible to run for office for eight years. Cunha is faced with many corruption charges, including bribery charges in which he is accused of taking as much as $40 million in bribes and laundering the money through an evangelical church and through Swiss bank accounts. Despite Cunha leading the operation in impeaching Rousseff and accusing her of manipulating the federal budget to conceal economic problems, Cunha has actually used his corruption and all of his charges to enrich himself, which is not the case with Rousseff. In addition to this, bank accounts in Swiss banks have been traced back to Cunha’s wife’s name, Cláudia Cruz. Both Cruz and Cunha claim to be innocent and see no wrong in all that they are doing.
To say that all the corruption in Brazilian government and politics that has been going on recently is a new thing in Brazilian history would be a lie. Such corruption in Brazil has existed for decades. The current corruption in Brazil should be looked as a new wave resurging to the many waves that have already been present for many, many years. There is no easy solution to this problem of corruption, especially in a country like Brazil with one of the largest economies in the world, and a country where corruption essentially is “the norm” at this point in time. Sadly, Brazil and many other Latin American countries, such as neighboring Venezuela, are currently being affected by corruption due to political leaders not being interested in what is best for their country, but instead what is best for themselves. It is important to educate ourselves in how much power politics/politicians have in affecting the lives of millions across the world. Thus, becoming politically and socially aware of who government leaders and officials are is so critical in progressing and developing a successful state.
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Brazil has more than just these two corrupt politicians, while it may seem hopeful that Cunha and Rousseff have been impeached and punished, you have to remember that there are other politicians vying for their position so they can do exactly the same thing they did. Once corruption has become so deeply seated within a government there are very few ways to get rid of it, if there are any at all. Right now there is a witch hunt occurring as Brazil demands action for change. I would not be surprised to see it continue and my question is when will it end? and when it does, will it have made any difference?
One thing that I find interesting is that Rousseff has not faced any type of corruption problems in the past. Now that doesn’t mean that she was clear of all problems, but it is just ironic that the people who have made her leave office, more than two thirds of them will be or on trial for similar accusations. However because they are in congress they are judged by the courts and can appeal, for Rousseff however this is it.
It is sad to realize that even though the Rousseff has left the problem of corruption is far from being solved. It makes me wonder what a sustainable solution to fight corruption would look like.
It the same people that make judge congressman and the president are being corrupt, what outcome can we expect at the end?
I find it very intetesting that the article notes the role his wife plays in this corruption. It reminds me of a certain presidential candidate and her role in her husband’s presidency.
It is really complicated to end corruption where most of the government entities are already infiltrated with corruption. I think that in cases like this one foreign help is necessary. If not it just becomes a vicious cycle.
As noted above, Rousseff is an interesting case in that she personally is not corrupt. She was impeached for breaking a law within the constitution by moving money around between government budgets, so it’s not immoral to oust her exactly, merely hypocritical. However, it becomes much less so when you take into account the fact that the leftist party of Lula and Rousseff has been in power for the last decade plus, and it is never good for corruption when a party holds the levers of power for so long. As a result, despite the personalities involved, there is still a chance that the principle of competition will allow for increasing accountability and less of a sense of invulnerability that the Worker’s Party has enjoyed up until recently.