Weekly Report - 12 July 2005

It was a traumatic week for the government of President Lula da Silva. More revelations of corruption touched a minister in his cabinet and an ally meant to have become a cabinet minister. Reluctantly, the leader of the ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), José Genoino, was persuaded to resign. Even as the public began to believe that Lula himself at least knew about the shady dealings of his party, the government mounted a new drive in congress to block the merger of the three parliamentary commissions of inquiry into corruption.