Protests Against President Rousseff Announced for Sunday in Brazil

By Lisa Flueckiger, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A combination of facts discovered in Operation Lava Jato (car wash) regarding a huge money laundering scandal in Brazil involving oil giant Petrobras together with a weak economy, have led the support for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff plummet. Now, a new protest wave has been announced against her politics in all major Brazilian cities for Sunday, March 15th.

The demonstration in Rio de Janeiro is announced to begin at 9:30 AM at Copacabana beach (Posto 5) and so far has over 40,000 participants in its Facebook group. The one in São Paulo is planned for 2PM at MASP and the one in Brasília for 9:30 AM in front of the National Congress.

The Facebook group also announced demonstrations in big cities abroad. London, Miami, San Francisco and Buenos Aires are among the cities cited to take to the streets on Sunday as well.

A poll by Datafolha in February has shown that three out of four Brazilians believe Dilma knew about the corruption scheme, while 44 percent disapprove of her administration. The theme of the protest for March 15th accordingly is an “impeachment” of the President.

The call for impeachment leans on the history of Brazilian President Fernando Collor, who was impeached in 1992 after involvement in a corruption scandal that was accompanied by huge student protests.

The plan to protest against Dilma Rousseff’s politics has won the support of main opposition party PSDB and former presidential candidate Aécio Neves. Yet, Neves has stated that he doesn’t agree with the impeachment.

The President herself has acknowledged the right to protest, but does not support what she called a “third round” of elections. “The election is over, there were first and second rounds there. A third round of elections, can’t happen for any Brazilian citizen, unless you want a democratic breakdown,” Rousseff stated.

It remains to be seen if the Sunday protests can repeat the nation-wide protests of June and July 2013 or the history of Collor. In any case, further protests are already planned for the Worker’s Day on May 1st.