A key figure in Brazil’s interim government has resigned after explosive new transcripts revealed how he plotted to oust President Dilma Rousseff in order to end a corruption investigation that was targeting him. The transcripts, published by Brazil’s largest newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, document a conversation in March, just weeks before Brazil’s lower house voted in favor of impeaching President Rousseff. Romero Jucá, who was then a senator but became a planning minister after Rousseff’s ouster, was speaking with a former oil executive, Sérgio Machado. Both men had been targets of the so-called Car Wash investigation over money laundering and corruption at the state-controlled oil firm Petrobras. In the conversation, the men agree that ousting President Rousseff would be the only way to end the corruption probe. In the transcript, Jucá said, “We have to change the government so the bleeding is stopped.” Machado then reportedly said, “The easiest solution is to put Michel in” — a reference to Vice President Michel Temer, who took power once Rousseff was suspended. We speak to Maria Luisa Mendonça, director of Brazil’s Network for Social Justice and Human Rights.
TRANSCRIPT:
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We begin today’s show with the political crisis engulfing Brazil. On Tuesday, the country’s interim president, Michel Temer, unveiled a raft of economic austerity measures and introduced a far-reaching constitutional amendment limiting the growth of public spending to the equivalent of the previous year’s inflation. Temer reportedly is now focused on overhauling Brazil’s pension system, but two of the country’s largest unions have refused to participate in talks, saying they don’t recognize the interim government. Temer has also called for the immediate abolition of funds created to channel oil revenues into education initiatives. On Tuesday, he addressed a meeting of the Brazilian congressional party leaders.
INTERIM PRESIDENT MICHEL TEMER: [translated] Public spending is on…