President Dilma Rousseff has broken the law and must step down so that Brazil can recover its legal bearings, the author of a key impeachment petition said.
Helio Bicudo, a 93-year-old lawyer who was a high-ranking member of Rousseff's ruling Workers' Party, said in an interview that Brazil must return to "the rule of law."
After breaking with the leftist party a decade ago, Bicudo is today one of the most visible faces in the growing movement to depose Rousseff.
Several impeachment petitions have been lodged in Congress, but his is thought to be the most likely to be considered.
Bicudo filed a new version Thursday at a notary's office in Sao Paulo, together with representatives from dozens of political and social groups, including congressman Carlos Sampaio from the opposition PSDB party.
The petition will then be taken next week to Congress in the capital Brasilia. Its main allegation is that Rousseff fiddled government accounts to cover up budget gaps, an allegation that has been given weight by the country's accounts court.
The court referred to accounting maneuvers in 2014 ahead of Rousseff's second term, but opponents say that illegal practices continued, justifying her impeachment.
- Crime is crime -
Q: Why do you want Rousseff to go?
A: Because this is not a government. Rousseff no longer governs. She is taking decisions according to events and a direction-less government is very bad.
Q: What are the main points of the impeachment petition?
A: Dilma Rousseff violated constitutional and legal principles. For example, (unauthorized) loans from federal banks are not allowed. The law prohibits using official banks to sort out the government's financial problems. These practices continue into this year.
Q: Rousseff says that such practices have always been common in Brazil.
A: I don't see it like that, because the crime doesn't have old or new versions. There is a moment when the facts have to be pointed out. This is the moment to show that the government did illegal things and these illegalities support the impeachment petition.
Q: Ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is Rousseff's mentor, says it was thanks to those accounting maneuvers that the government was able to sustain important social programs.
A: That is a very weak way of explaining why a law has been broken. You cannot justify violating the law by saying that it benefits people with poor living conditions. Basically he is confessing to the crime, and crime is crime.
Q: The impeachment procedure can only be set in motion by the lower house speaker, Eduardo Cunha, who is accused of corruption. Does that delegitimize the process?
A: You have to distinguish between the person and the office of speaker. If Cunha leaves the post one day nothing will stop the impeachment procedure from going ahead by another way.
Q: What about reports that Cunha and the government will reach a deal on protecting each other so that he keeps his job and in return does not start impeachment proceedings?
A: That would be a disgrace. The speaker of the house is not the master of this matter and if he leaves it will go on.
Q: What will the cost be to the country if Rousseff has to step down?
A: None. Quite the opposite. Brazil is now starting to act within the rule of law. To say impeachment is a coup d'etat is a mistake. It's not a coup. The constitution says that it is a crime when the president acts against the law. Everyone knows that Dilma is not governing.
Q: What role is being played by opposition parties like the PSDB?
A: This is not a party matter, but a matter for Brazil.
Q: But it is very linked to party politics.
A: We are not with any parties. This is a matter between Brazilian citizens who want normality in their country.
President Dilma Rousseff has broken the law and must step down so that Brazil can recover its legal bearings, the author of a key impeachment petition said.
Helio Bicudo, a 93-year-old lawyer who was a high-ranking member of Rousseff’s ruling Workers’ Party, said in an interview that Brazil must return to “the rule of law.”
After breaking with the leftist party a decade ago, Bicudo is today one of the most visible faces in the growing movement to depose Rousseff.
Several impeachment petitions have been lodged in Congress, but his is thought to be the most likely to be considered.
Bicudo filed a new version Thursday at a notary’s office in Sao Paulo, together with representatives from dozens of political and social groups, including congressman Carlos Sampaio from the opposition PSDB party.
The petition will then be taken next week to Congress in the capital Brasilia. Its main allegation is that Rousseff fiddled government accounts to cover up budget gaps, an allegation that has been given weight by the country’s accounts court.
The court referred to accounting maneuvers in 2014 ahead of Rousseff’s second term, but opponents say that illegal practices continued, justifying her impeachment.
– Crime is crime –
Q: Why do you want Rousseff to go?
A: Because this is not a government. Rousseff no longer governs. She is taking decisions according to events and a direction-less government is very bad.
Q: What are the main points of the impeachment petition?
A: Dilma Rousseff violated constitutional and legal principles. For example, (unauthorized) loans from federal banks are not allowed. The law prohibits using official banks to sort out the government’s financial problems. These practices continue into this year.
Q: Rousseff says that such practices have always been common in Brazil.
A: I don’t see it like that, because the crime doesn’t have old or new versions. There is a moment when the facts have to be pointed out. This is the moment to show that the government did illegal things and these illegalities support the impeachment petition.
Q: Ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is Rousseff’s mentor, says it was thanks to those accounting maneuvers that the government was able to sustain important social programs.
A: That is a very weak way of explaining why a law has been broken. You cannot justify violating the law by saying that it benefits people with poor living conditions. Basically he is confessing to the crime, and crime is crime.
Q: The impeachment procedure can only be set in motion by the lower house speaker, Eduardo Cunha, who is accused of corruption. Does that delegitimize the process?
A: You have to distinguish between the person and the office of speaker. If Cunha leaves the post one day nothing will stop the impeachment procedure from going ahead by another way.
Q: What about reports that Cunha and the government will reach a deal on protecting each other so that he keeps his job and in return does not start impeachment proceedings?
A: That would be a disgrace. The speaker of the house is not the master of this matter and if he leaves it will go on.
Q: What will the cost be to the country if Rousseff has to step down?
A: None. Quite the opposite. Brazil is now starting to act within the rule of law. To say impeachment is a coup d’etat is a mistake. It’s not a coup. The constitution says that it is a crime when the president acts against the law. Everyone knows that Dilma is not governing.
Q: What role is being played by opposition parties like the PSDB?
A: This is not a party matter, but a matter for Brazil.
Q: But it is very linked to party politics.
A: We are not with any parties. This is a matter between Brazilian citizens who want normality in their country.
