Lula weakens the defense of the Government of Rousseff

Cornered by research in Petrobras, the former president has resorted to defend attacking strategy. In less than six months they have fallen three key ministers for Rousseff

He has left behind the slogan Lulinha, peace and love that adopted during the 2002 elections, when he was elected president of Brazil after three attempts. Cornered by Operation Lava Jato, which investigates corrupt frames in state oil company Petrobras, he has resorted to attacking defend strategy. And its collateral victim is, curiously, his heir, President Dilma Rousseff.

In less than six months, and at great political cost for the president, the party has moved three key pieces chessboard Rousseff: three ministers she considered essential have been replaced by allies of Lula.

The first victim was Aloizio Mercadante, who left the Civil House (a comparable position to that of chief of staff) for the portfolio of Education. The second fall was Joaquim Levy, who resigned as finance minister after being attacked by the Workers Party (PT). The third, and so far the last, is Jose Eduardo Cardozo, who left Monday Justice for position in the General Advocacy of the Union. Levy was replaced by Nelson Barbosa, the most popular at the base of PT. The other two were as substitutes Lula trusted people. A Civil House came Jaques Wagner, former governor of Bahia, very close to president Lula, precisely who pressed him to accept the position. In place of Jose Eduardo Cardozo, the former Minister of Justice, enters one of the trusted men of Wagner: Wellington fiscal César de Lima and Silva.

The opposition sees the change of the Minister of Justice as a clear attempt to interfere party in Operation Lava Jato. There were sectors of the PT that pressed insistently for Cardozo frenase the anxiety of the Federal Police to arrest Lula. "He has left office for his qualities, not to accept that criminals Lula desires interfere in politics. It is an honor out well, "said one opposition deputy, José Carlos Aleluia, the Democratic Party (DEM).

It was the third time that Cardozo, a faithful ally of Rousseff, trying to get away from the executive, but this time the president accepted his request. And he made it clear something every Brazilian always knew or suspected: the boss of truth in this government is Lula.

Meanwhile, pressure is growing on the former. Last Saturday, the feast of the 36th anniversary of the PT in Rio de Janeiro, Lula signaled that he expected the Federal Police call him to testify on suspicion of corruption related case Lava Jato. Lula expressed his fear that the Justice lift its banking secrecy and to disclose tax information and phone records. "If that's the price I have to pay to prove my innocence, I do. Then I just want to give a certificate of suitability "he said wryly, to the delight of the audience. The former president also hinted that the investigations against media that are more correct because some prosecutors are very aware of the media.

Lula, whose impassioned speech Saturday recalled his early days in politics, when it was much more aggressive, also spoke for the first time on a triplex on the coast and a country house in São Paulo that have put him in the crosshairs of the latest anti-corruption investigations. "I say we do not own the apartment (...) the company says it is not mine. And a citizen of Public Prosecutions, as is obeying the newspaper O Globo and Rede Globo, used to say yes it is. "

While the president tries to get rid of the charges and maintain any opportunity to be a candidate in the elections of 2018, growing chaos in the government. The PT recently launched severe criticism of the government and some sectors of the party speak even of the need to separate the executive.

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