© Ueslei Marcelino-Reuters
Though it is attracting remarkably little notice around the world, Brazil is quietly completing the process of replacing its democratically elected President with an appointed one. Dilma Rousseff, elected President of Brazil in 2010 and re-elected in October 2014 with 51.6% of the vote in the election's second round, was suspended from her elected office in April 2016 by votes in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate. She is now undergoing trial for impeachment before the Senate.
By general consensus Rousseff was a less than successful President of Brazil. She has herself admitted mistakes. She never asserted her authority effectively and proved to be a less than competent and at times erratic manager of the Brazilian economy. She completely lacked the charisma and authority of her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who chose her as his successor, and whose shadow she never fully escaped
The single factor that probably eroded Rousseff's support more than any other was Brazil's fall into recession soon after her re-election in 2014. Coming after a decade of rapid growth and rising living standards, this came as a shock for many Brazilians, and lost her support within her working class electoral base.
Whilst a strong case can be made that Rousseff handled the recession badly, it is important to say that she did not cause it. As a major commodities exporter Brazil was inevitably hit hard by the collapse in oil and commodity prices which began in mid 2014. That would have inevitably caused a recession in Brazil whoever was President.
Comment: The collapse of the oil and commodities markets wasn't just happenstance, nor has it only affected Brazil. This was part and parcel of the U.S. waged economic war fought against Russia, and Brazil being a BRICS partner has suffered in no small part because it wants something other than a world dominated by U.S. hegemony. The impeachment proceedings against Rousseff is unconstitutional and fueled by corrupt powers who do not have Brazil's best interest at heart.
See also:
'Impeachment equal to political death penalty'