RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court (STF) Chief Justice Luiz Fux said he was against President Jair Bolsonaro’s impeachment. In an interview with Estado de S.Paulo newspaper on February 7th, he stated that Brazil will not withstand a third such process.
According to Fux, an impeachment is a political process that does not involve the Supreme Court. “But in a post-Pandemic world, when the country needs to rebuild itself economically, attract investors and consolidate its democracy, I think it would be a disaster. Brazil can’t withstand three impeachments”.
In 2016, ex-president Dilma Rousseff (PT) was removed from the presidency by Congress. In 1992, Fernando Collor (at the time in the PRN) was the first to face impeachment.
Fux also downplayed Bolsonaro’s statement that the country would face even greater problems than the United States, with the storming of the Capitol, should it not adopt the printed ballot.
“I don’t believe that 10% of what happened in the United States will happen here. An inexpressive minority will not have support. Absolutely not. In voluntary conversations, the generals firmly believe that Brazilian democracy must not suffer any kind of harm. All of them.”
Fux ruled out any possibility to adopt the print ballot. “I think the print ballot is very old-fashioned, completely unnecessary, because the ballot boxes are very safe. And the print ballot represents billions of expenses for Brazil. The Supreme Court’s opinion is expressed (against the print ballot). A billion-reais expense is unacceptable after the Supreme Court’s decision. It makes no sense.”
According to the Justice, the inquiry into Minister of Health Eduardo Pazuello over his performance in Amazonas, may find that there was no misjudgment, after all the shortage of oxygen also occurred in other countries.
“It must be made clear that the Supreme Court absolves innocent people and convicts guilty. There is still no evidence to support a conviction. What happened, in my opinion, was the surprise factor, because other countries were also overwhelmed with oxygen shortages.”
According to Fux, even the distribution of ineffective drugs against Covid-19 to Amazonas can be explained. “The truth is that medical authorities in the country, even famous doctors, said that they had been through the disease and took hydroxychloroquine,” he said.
Source: R7