Powder Keg: Brazil Will 'Explode' if Dilma Rousseff is Kicked Out of Office

© AFP 2023 / VANDERLEI ALMEIDABrazilian suspended President Dilma Rousseff gives a press conference with international media at the presidential residence Alvorada Palace in Brasilia on May 13, 2016
Brazilian suspended President Dilma Rousseff gives a press conference with international media at the presidential residence Alvorada Palace in Brasilia on May 13, 2016 - Sputnik International
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The Brazilian Senate opened its impeachment trial against President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday, with Rousseff expected to take the stand on Monday

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff looks on during signing of federal land transfer agreement for the government of the state of Amapa at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, April 15, 2016 - Sputnik International
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Dr. Francisco Dominguez, head of the Latin American Studies department at Middlesex University, UK, told Radio Sputnik's Brian Becker that it is not yet clear whether the Senate will confirm the impeachment. According to recent reports, 48 out of 81 senators have declared publicly that they are in favor of impeaching the democratically-elected Rousseff, and 18 are said to be against. A vote to impeach by 54 senators is required to end Rousseff's political career.

The uncertainty is primarily the result of pressure from the street and a mass movement in Brazil, Dominguez said. Rousseff is mobilizing, traveling around the country, staging rallies and garnering more support than she had when was a sitting president.

"She is becoming extremely popular. Although she went down the polls at some point in past, now she has reinvigorated herself."

"The situation is radicalizing quite enormously, and I imagine, were they to impeach her definitely, the country is going to explode."

The senators face a problem, as many are known to be corrupt and, if they do not impeach Rousseff, they are likely to face charges and investigations, Dominguez said. Moreover, Rousseff has said that she will initiate a general election to seek "new blood" in both the Congress and the Senate if she is reinstated.

"You can imagine the fright [of] the people who are in the position of privilege right now," Dominguez said.

Yet, if the enormously popular Rousseff is impeached, the current neoliberal interim government will find itself isolated, Dominguez said, as many countries "will come up and say they will not recognize the government coming out from this undemocratic process."

Either way, Brazil is in for a rough ride.    

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