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News > Latin America

Michel Temer, Brazil's Biggest Traitor

  • Michel Temer sits during a speech by president Dilma Rousseff.

    Michel Temer sits during a speech by president Dilma Rousseff. | Photo: Reuters

Published 20 May 2016
Opinion

The new Senate-imposed interim president has betrayed Brazilian democracy.

Senate-imposed interim president of Brazil Michel Temer has betrayed his parliamentary alliances, the democratically elected and suspended president Dilma Rousseff, and the more than 200 million citizens of Brazil.


Traitor to Dilma

Temer was Dilma Rousseff's vice president since 2011, winning elections twice with Rousseff heading the ticket.

By the end of last year, a message from Temer was leaked to the press, in which he tells Rousseff that he is upset that he has not been taken into consideration for important decisions. In April 2016, audio of Temer’s first speech as president was leaked, except it happened a month before the Senate even voted on whether or not to begin an impeachment process, suggesting that Temer was conspiring and mayne knew ahead of time to oust his president.

Dilma accused him of deliberately releasing this information to harm her.

By May 12, Temer became interim president after the Senate voted to proceed with the impeachment trial, forcing Rousseff to step down for as much as 180 days.


Traitor to ruling coalition

Temer is the president of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), the party with the largest number of lawmakers in government. It doesn’t have a clear ideology, but switches sides depending on the political situation of the country.

Temer’s party reached a coalition government agreement with Rouseff’s Workers Party (PT) for both of her presidential terms.

After working with the socialist-driven Worker’s Party, Temer announced in 2015 his party would now work under an extreme conservative approach. The party then changed the structure of all social programs and cut spending on health and education.

By March 2016, Temer announces his party would leave the coalition, but he still remained as vice president.


Traitor to Brazilians

According to Wikileaks, Temer has been a U.S. informant and had continuous meetings with U.S. Embassy staff to report on the political situation in Brazil, since Dilma’s predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn as president.

After only a few days as interim president, Temer has eliminated the Ministries of Culture, Agrarian Development, Racial Equality, and Science and Technology.

His newly appointed foreign minister said he would modify the current framework for offshore oil exploration to benefit the U.S. company Chevron. The laws were previously designed by Lula  to favor the state's interests in oil exploration, which was a popular measure in the country, but deeply unpopular with multinational oil companies.

As a result, 60 percent of the population want Temer to resign, and only 2 percent would vote for him in elections. Furthermore, 58 percent of the people believe Temer should also be subject to a political trial.

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