On the eve of impeachment trial, Rousseff says a coup is underway

On the eve of the beginning of her impeachment trial by the Senate on Thursday (Aug. 25), Brazil's suspended President Dilma Rousseff spoke to a packed theater at the Bank Workers' Union of Brasília. She again said there is an ongoing coup d'État in Brazil and that she was being punished even though she had not committed impeachable offenses. “They are convicting me of some fantasy, a 'non-offence'. I have committed no crime.”

At the Ato em Defesa da Democracia, an anti-impeachment demonstration called by Frente Brasil Popular movement, Rousseff said that she had thought over the underlying motives of the impeachment case and concluded it had originated from her adversaries' four defeats in the past four presidential elections. “The fourth of them when I was re-elected it was the last straw for them.” That was when she says Congress began its attempt to impose an indirect election on the country. “That's what it is about. In the direct election, millions discussed the proposals. In the indirect election, only 81 are discussing them. That's what has been going on in our country and we cannot accept that,” she said.

“Disruption of democracy”

She argued that a new election is the only way to stop the “disruption of democracy” now underway in the country: “An election is required to restore all of the country's democratic institutions. There's one thing we cannot look at without criticism—they are trying to replace an electoral college made up by Brazil's 110 million voters with one of 81 senators,” she said.

The suspended president pointed out that in every presidential election, Brazilians discuss the main issues the country has to address, and she was democratically elected in 2014 based on that “wide-reaching” discussion.

Rousseff said that it could be concluded “beyond doubt” that her voters had chosen an agenda that favored a production sharing model for pre-salt oil production, and the welfare politics of minimum wage appreciation, the Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer program, the More Doctors program, and other social policies. This agenda, she said, is very different from what interim President Michel Temer is doing now.

“We voted against the traditional politics that is now being pursued, which, at first surreptitiously, and now more openly, has dominated the political debate in our country, and is being presented as the solution for the country's problems.” She instanced a proposed amendment to the constitution that could freeze real increase in government spending on education and health for 20 years, which she argues is set to undermine these areas.

Rousseff also stressed that the group that is now in power has been announcing the adoption of unpopular measures that did not stand the test of the ballot.

About the criticism she has faced for defending herself in Congress and the Supreme Court, she said she continues to abide by democratic institutions even though she thinks the whole process is a coup: “We respect the institutions unlike the coup-backers, and we need to be able to live in a democratic regime, and have used every available instrument to save our democracy.”

Remembering Getúlio Vargas

In her speech Wednesday, Rousseff also argued that Brazil's democracy did not “come out of the blue”, noting that day (24) was the 62nd anniversary of President Getúlio Vargas's suicide, which she said prevented a disruption of democracy in the country at the time (1954). According to her, Vargas committed suicide because he “wanted to protect the country's democracy as he knew it was under threat. And he managed to avert a coup for a long time.” “Today, I don't have to resign or commit suicide, I don't have to flee to Uruguay, we're at another point in history,” she said.

She wound up her speech by saying that “in life we always have to fight”, and the impeachment case against her that democracy should not be taken for granted: “I thought at one point in my life that I'd never see such arbitrary processes again, that I'd never see a disruption of democracy and a coup d'État again, and I'm living intensely.” She vowed to keep fighting for Brazil's democracy like she fought against the military dictatorship.

The demonstration yesterday brought together representatives of social movements and trade unions, as well as such former members of Rousseff's cabinet as Eleonora Menicucci, Miriam Belchior, Jaques Wagner, Patrus Ananias, and Miguel Rossetto.

Trial

A two-third majority (at least 54 votes in a total of 81 senators) is required to impeach President Dilma Rousseff and remove her permanently from office. If impeached, Rousseff will be banned from holding political office for eight years, and Vice-President Michel Temer, currently acting as president, serves out the remainder of her term until 2018. If her impeachment is voted down, Rousseff will be reinstated, and the impeachment case is closed.

Translated by Mayra Borges