"I think the whole campaign and energy and momentum is really on the side of those who are carrying out this coup," Ives tells Loud & Clear, referring to the breakaway of Brazil’s Democratic Movement Party from the coalition formed by President Rousseff, a major move that threatens her leadership.
"I think it’s clearly some sort of coup, which is going to try to push Brazil back to the right after 13 years of inching left."
This is part of what Ives calls Washington’s war on the BRICS nations, an economic alliance comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
"On the political level, they’re working as well against Brazil, in particular, which has been a colossus on the South American continent," he says.
The current political climate in Brazil looks suspiciously similar to that which preceded the ousting of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide – a coup which led to a UN-sanctioned military occupation of Haiti by both the US and Brazil.
"Essentially they have mounted a media, political, economic, diplomatic, multi-front campaign to essentially drive this government from power," Ives says, "and I think it’s very clear that Dilma Rousseff is practically one of the few politicians who is not affected by this corruption scandal."
While a number of countries around the world, particularly in Central America, have made moves to the left, a major external factor has prevented them from reaching their potential.
"Well I think the US has been picking off these 'pink' countries," Ives says. "They’re gradually reeling them back into the US sphere, trying to stamp out these political revolutions."
Given Brazil’s prominence, a destabilization of Rousseff’s government could have a broader effect on the other BRICS nations.
"It’s going to have a huge effect on the BRIC movement, generally, because Brazil is a key to it. Russia and China are the biggest heavyweights, but Brazil, at least in the Western Hemisphere, plays a key role as a semi-pull against US power in the north."
The push to remove President Rousseff from power is part of an ongoing psychological strategy, in which the public images of prominent Brazilian figures are tarnished.
"She, again, is one of the most unimpeachably, honest figures. A former guerilla, an economist, she’s very capable, she’s a unifier," Ives says. "But, this is something where the media and the psychological game that they’re playing somehow trumps reality."
