Today, more than a million people marched through out the cities of Brazil in protest to Brazil’s current President, Dilma de Rousseff. The protestors believe that Dilma and her political party (Workers Party) have been involved in corruption with the state’s oil company, Petrobras. Dilma hasn’t been directly charged with a crime, but she is a major suspect because the time period of these anonymous deals with Petrobras coincide when Dilma was the Chairman of Petrobras.
It doesn’t surprise me that politicians from the Brazilian Government are once again being condemned for corruption, without any consequences. In 2005, the Supreme Court charged 25 politicians and businessmen of active participation of money laundering, bribery and corruption. They were “sentenced” for 8 years in prison; however, they were able to somehow avoid their prison sentence, as if they committed no crime. Stories like these have been going on for decades in Brazil, and now “corruption” has reached to the highest level of government—The Presidency. The Brazilian people are angry and embarrassed, as the behavior has been ongoing for years. It was time for the people to stand up and protest with the vision of a transparent government.
Seeing people peacefully protesting for a better community is an example of democracy at its finest. Yes, the politicians must be held accountable and accept the consequences of their actions. So the questions I am left asking are: what is the role of government in developing industries? Did government involvement lead to the scandal at Petrobras?
It doesn’t surprise me that politicians from the Brazilian Government are once again being condemned for corruption, without any consequences. In 2005, the Supreme Court charged 25 politicians and businessmen of active participation of money laundering, bribery and corruption. They were “sentenced” for 8 years in prison; however, they were able to somehow avoid their prison sentence, as if they committed no crime. Stories like these have been going on for decades in Brazil, and now “corruption” has reached to the highest level of government—The Presidency. The Brazilian people are angry and embarrassed, as the behavior has been ongoing for years. It was time for the people to stand up and protest with the vision of a transparent government.
Seeing people peacefully protesting for a better community is an example of democracy at its finest. Yes, the politicians must be held accountable and accept the consequences of their actions. So the questions I am left asking are: what is the role of government in developing industries? Did government involvement lead to the scandal at Petrobras?