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Ex-President ‘Lula’ Joins Brazil’s Cabinet, Gaining Legal Shield
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Race
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| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Mar 16, 2016 06:21pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Simon Romero |
| Media | Newspaper - New York Times |
| News Date | Thursday, March 17, 2016 12:20:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | RIO DE JANEIRO — Faced with multiple corruption investigations, Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is joining the cabinet of his successor, Dilma Rousseff, in a move that may offer him increased legal protections but intensifies the political upheaval in Latin America’s largest country.
Mr. da Silva, 70, will become Ms. Rousseff’s chief of staff, said Afonso Florence, the leader of the governing Workers’ Party in the Chamber of Deputies.
Mr. da Silva, a founder of the Workers’ Party and its most towering figure, is thrusting himself into a government that is lurching from one crisis to another. The economy is reeling from a bad slump and major corruption scandals. Ms. Rousseff is struggling for her own political survival, with protesters demanding her ouster and lawmakers pursuing impeachment proceedings against her.
“Vested with the unprecedented function of a de facto prime minister, Lula will oversee an act of political desperation to save what’s left of his project,” said Igor Gielow, a columnist for the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.
The move could offer Mr. da Silva some practical protection as prosecutors seek his arrest in a graft inquiry involving his ties to giant construction companies. Cabinet ministers are among the 700 or so senior officials in Brazil who enjoy special judicial standing, meaning they can be tried only by Brazil’s highest court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal. |
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