Coup
in Brazil
During a
recent appearance at a corporate think tank, Brazilian President
Michel Temer admitted that his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, was
impeached because she refused to implement a neoliberal reform plan
published by Temer’s party.
Rousseff was
formally removed from office on Aug. 31 after the Brazilian senate
voted to impeach her for breaking budgetary laws. This allowed Temer
to take office despite a court ruling barring him from running for
election.
However,
Rousseff and other critics of Temer have argued that her impeachment
was actually a coup d’etat which set the stage for Temer to take
power, backed by a government that’s more favorable to corporate
investors.
Appearing
Wednesday before an audience in New York at the Americas
Society/Council of the Americas, a corporate think tank founded in
1965 by the powerful banker David Rockefeller, Temer appeared to
admit that the impeachment had more to do with Rousseff’s refusal
to adopt a sweeping package of economic and legal changes proposed by
Temer’s Brazilian Democratic Movement Party.
According to
a subtitled video of his speech published by The Intercept Brasil,
Temer said:
“Many
months ago, while I was still vice president, we released a document
named ‘A Bridge to the Future’ because we knew it would be
impossible for the government to continue on that course. We
suggested that the government should adopt the theses presented in
that document called ‘A Bridge to the Future.’ But, as that did
not work out, the plan wasn’t adopted and a process was established
which culminated with me being installed as president of the
republic.”
In a report
published in Portuguese on Thursday and in English on Friday, The
Intercept Brasil’s Ignacio Vieira explained that the “Bridge to
the Future” plan included economic reforms typical of neoliberal
policy, including “cuts to health and education spending,
reduced welfare benefits, a raised retirement age, new private sector
partnerships and decreased market regulations.”
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