Within the space of two days in early December two of the four sitting federal deputies convicted for their roles in the 2003-2005 congressional bribery scheme known as the mensalão resigned their seats rather than face a looming impeachment process. Whereas once Brazilian politicians would have had no concern staying in office despite a criminal conviction, the introduction two months ago of public votes on the stripping of parliamentary privileges means such brazen disregard of judicial proceedings may happen less often in future. “With a 45-year history of struggle in the defence of the Brazilian people and democracy, I will…

On 28 November Brazil’s Marina Silva, on some accounts the country’s most popular politician, again declared that the Partido Socialista Brasileiro (PSB) leader and state governor of Pernambuco, Eduardo Campos, would be the 2014 presidential candidate for the new alliance between her civic movement Rede Sustentabilidade and the PSB. Despite her repeated insistence that she has no ambitions for 2014, no-one quite believes it. “The candidate is Eduardo Campos. We had a dialogue with a party that has a candidate. We put forward a proposal for a programmatic alliance in form and content”, Silva declared alongside Campos at a PSB-Rede…

Ever trying to put a positive spin on things, Brazil’s finance minister Guido Mantega sought to put the disappointing Q3 GDP figures news in context. “Among the Brics we were the country that grew the most in the second quarter. In the third quarter we had the lowest growth,” he said, blaming the external sector for the volatility. He has also been rebuffing concerns about Brazil’s fiscal position, also on the slide. Problematically, Mantega has long since lost credibility with the markets, and even though foreign investors are still pouring billions into the populous domestic consumer market, the country’s macroeconomic…