Two weeks was enough for new president Temer put into action a transition government that has moved the country’s social welfare state, replace regional commitments and the BRICS alliance with renewed deregulated system of trade with the United States. For many Brazilians he is systematically reversing 13 years of policies advanced by the Workers Party.
“When Michel Temer first assumed control of the government he started a rollback of the social policies that have been in effect for a decade and a half in Brazil. He cut back social programs and he extinguished the minister of culture. In less than one week he rolled back 13 years of social achievement” said Aline C Piva, an activist of the group Brazilian Expats for Democracy.
“There are no investigations under Dilma Rousseff’s name for corruption, and there is nothing that would show that she is a corrupt politician,” said Juliana Moraes, another activist from the same group of Aline C Piva. “What we are seeing is that the people who are looking to oust her actually have dirty records. The current interim president is supposed to be somebody who is unelectable. He has dirty records, which mean corruption charges against him, so for the next eight years he is not supposed to even be in office.”
The activist Aline C Piva also said “The first day of Temer’s administration made clear that the neoliberal agenda is back in place in Brazilian politics.” She explained that Temer’s administration has moved to revoke or offset existing commitments in Latin America, the developing world, and with Russia and China in favor of a push toward US-centric bilateral trade deregulation. “Jose Serra, the new minister of foreign affairs, in his first speech, made very clear that Brazil is going to roll back the policies that led to more independence in the region,” said Piva.
Juliana Moraes took a stronger line, comparing the present situation to the US-backed 1964 Brazilian military coup, noting similar involvement in the proceedings by the US ambassador. “Now we have Liliana Ayalde, the current ambassador to Brazil and the former ambassador to Paraguay in 2008 to 2011, when there was a coup there, who is writing op-ed in the right-wing newspaper O Globo about how Brazil is an essential market for American corporations, a must-play for US business.”
In an opinion article written for the newspaper “O Globo” from Rio, the U.S ambassador for Brazil Liliana Ayalde said “For over 100 years, U.S Companies have recognized Brazil’s importance as a trader partner, and its value as a place to invest. While each of our economies has been through its share of ups and downs during that time, the commercial relationship has thrived. In recent years, we have seen more and more companies building innovative partnerships, creating new opportunities and driving commerce to new heights”.
She said that America aims to undermine the multilateral associations established by Brazil’s Workers Party with South American countries, and also looks to fracture the BRICS economic alliance for challenging the domination of the World Bank and the IMF.
*This article is edited from original featured articles of Sputnik News and O Globo Brazilian News.
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