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BrianMier

21 Oct, 8 tweets, 2 min read

A bill for an amendment to improve oversight of public prosecutors - a response to Lava Jato which crippled the economy and broke laws to help elect Bolsonaro - was blocked in Congress yesterday, after PSOL broke from the left and sided with Partido Novo to unanimously oppose it.

The only other two parties to unanimously oppose the bill, which lost by 11 votes and was unanimously supported by the Workers Party (PT) and the Communist Party of Brazil (PC do B), were the tiny Partido Verde and Rede, which have 4 members of Congress between them.

For more on self-proclaimed "left" politicians and their support for the US DOJ/FBI/Curitiba Public Prosectors Lava Jato investigation, see this: brasilwire.com/whither-the-la…

This is one example of of why the US and it's full spectrum imperialist integral state actors like Intercept and Jacobin love to prop up the relatively tiny PSOL party over the Workers Party. brasilwire.com/how-the-us-lef…

To give an idea of who's benifitting from this: Disgraced former Lava Jato taskforce leader Delton Dallagnol referred to the bill not passing as a "great victory" today.

This Amendment would have only slightly reduced impunity in one of the whitest, most elite branches of government. Public prosecutors are hired through civil service exams which most candidates only pass by taking preparatory courses that are too expensive for 95% of Brazilians.

The Brazilian Ministério Público (equivalent to US DA's Office) has no code of ethics and hasn't punished anyone for prosecutorial misconduct in Lava Jato. PEC 5 would've forced it to draft a code of ethics and enabled Congress to appoint a member to it's internal auditing board

The Bill, which was drafted by PT Congressman Paulo Teixeira also would also have increased the # of auditing board (CNMP) members from 14-17. Hardly groundbreaking stuff but too much for Globo TV, PSOL, the billionaire funded Partido Novo and the other lawmakers who blocked it.

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More from @BrianMteleSUR

BrianMier

@BrianMteleSUR

21 Oct

Here is a break down of the criminal charges against Brazil's far right President Jair Bolsonaro levied in the Parliamentary Covid 19 investigation and their maximum sentences. Thread

1) Exacerbating an epidemic resulting in deaths - maximum sentence of 30 years; 2) Ignoring implementation of preventative sanitary measures (an infraction) - maximum sentence of 1 year; 3) Charlatanism (infraction) - maximum sentence of 1 year.

4) Inciting criminal behavior (infraction) - maximum sentence of 6 months; 5) Counterfeiting of documents - maximum sentence of 5 years; 6) Irregular use of public funds (infraction) - maximum sentence of 3 months; 7) Malfeasance - maximum sentence of 1 year.

Read 5 tweets

BrianMier

@BrianMteleSUR

11 Oct

Back to the stone age. Brazil is self sufficient in natural gas, but Chicago Boy Finance Minister Paulo Guedes decided to irrationally link prices to the international market rate. Results: astronomical price hikes mean more Brazilians are now cooking with wood than with gas.

Not only is sad result of neoliberalism bad for the environment in a country where the President has ushered in a new era of out of control, man made forest fires in the Amazon rainforest, it is leading to a rise in respiratory infections and burn accidents in children.

Brazil has the World's largest natural gas reserves but the dismantling of Petrobras, which started when the US DOJ-backed Lava Jato operation began crippling strategic sectors of Brazilian industry, has left the company without enough production facilities to process it.

Read 5 tweets

BrianMier

@BrianMteleSUR

9 Oct

@renato_rovai

As we near the start of the last year of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's mandate, @renato_rovai writes in @revistaforum that,"he isn't going to pull off a coup, he won't be impeached, he won't resign and he won't be reelected."

Source: revistaforum.com.br/blogs/blogdoro…

I think one would have to be naive to think, after refusing to bring over 130 formal impeachment requests to the floor for vote during the first 3 years of Bolsonaro's mandate, that the center-right recipients of $billions in patronage who control Congress will do it now.

Read 4 tweets

BrianMier

@BrianMteleSUR

26 Sep

Most journalists understanding of economics is limited to a handful of 19th Century clichés. The Brazilian economy has gone through commodities boom/bust cycles for 500 years. Attributing the Workers Party's success to a commodities boom ignores the 2008 Great Recession. Thread

Bahia demonstrates the limitations of commodities booms. For centuries its production of export commodities like Cocoa and Tobacco generated huge wealth for a handful of European/ Brazilian businessmen while the vast majority of the population suffered in abject poverty.

In other words, as the last 500 years of economic history of the developing world shows, commodities booms without any kind of redistribution measures are absolutely useless in reducing poverty. Example: mining boom in the Congo.

Read 9 tweets

BrianMier

@BrianMteleSUR

24 Sep

Another relative of the Bolsonaro boys is under investigation for corruption, after a video surfaced showing an alleged henchman of cousin Leo Indio handing cash and T-shirts to poor people as they entered a bus in Pompeia, São Paulo. Leo is accused of illegal fundraising.

Some may remember Leo Indio from a 2020 corruption scandal when his boss, Senator Chico Mendes (DEM-RR) was forced to resign after police found R$18.000,00 of allegedly laundered money in his underwear. Indio was forced to resign as Mendes' chief of staff at the time.

Nepotism, skimming, money laundering... These allegations must all be fake news spread by lying communists, because President Bolsonaro said there hasn't been any corruption in Brazil in the last 2.8 years, during his UN speech, right?

Read 4 tweets

BrianMier

@BrianMteleSUR

24 Sep

@revistaforum

Renato Rovai, editor of @revistaforum writes that based on poll data, it will be impossible to impeach Jair Bolsonaro before next year's elections. As long as his support stay's above 20%, he says, impeachment is not an option, and Bolsonaro will make it to the 2nd round.

A third path candidate, he writes, "appears more like a dream of the traditional media and its well paid analysts than a reality". No third option candidate between Lula and Bolsonaro has cracked 10% in the polls.