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Weekly Report - 17 March 2016 (WR-16-11)

BRAZIL: On the edge of chaos

A homemade bomb was thrown at the presidential palace in Brasília by an as-yet unidentified man as crowds gathered to protest against the government led by President Dilma Rousseff late on the evening of 16 March. At the end of a day of dramatic developments, in which former president Lula da Silva (2003-2011) accepted a position as chief of staff in the government, and a secretly recorded phone call between the two leaders was interpreted by the opposition as evidence of a conspiracy to avoid prosecution, angry protesters gathered in cities across Brazil calling for Rousseff to resign. There is now a legitimate fear that Brazil’s institutions will not be able to cope with the radically polarised political environment. With Rousseff herself showing no signs of being willing to resign; an impeachment process that is likely to take months, at best; and the entire political class tainted by corruption allegations, Brazil looks set for a prolonged period of instability.

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