We condemn the suspension of President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, which represents a further escalation of attempts from Brazil’s rightwing opposition to overthrow its elected government.
It is thoroughly wrong that a few parliamentarians trample upon the political will expressed at the ballot box by 54 million Brazilians. This is compounded by the fact that many of those very parliamentarians face investigations for corruption yet they have instigated an impeachment process against democratically elected president Dilma Rousseff on charges of fiscal manoeuvring. Indeed, interim president Temer himself endorsed and supported Dilma's fiscal adjustments in his capacity as vice-president of Brazil.
The new government has shown its true colours by appointing a non-representative, all-male, cabinet and launching neo-liberal policies, including redundancies in the public sector, that will hurt millions of working and poorer people. This is extraordinary since Temer's interim government has no electoral or political mandate to implement policies that reverse and abolish the social programmes associated with Dilma and Lula's governments that, among other achievements, took 40 million people out of poverty.
There is also a sustained campaign aimed at discrediting former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, including through media misrepresentation, in order to stop him running in the next presidential election. It is up to the people of Brazil alone to choose their government.
We join Brazil's progressive political and social movements, groups from across global civil society such as the world trade union movement, and Governments in the region itself, in condemning this attempt to overthrow democracy in Brazil.
Yours,