Brazil Crisis

Although it is the largest economy in all of Latin America, Brazil is currently struggling with the most severe recession it has faced in the last century. Its economic performance had reduced by 3.8 percent in 2015 (The economist 2015). Brazil is the largest country in South America, and has the fifth largest population in the world (Simon 2015). The Brazilian economy is the seventh largest in the world, and it is believed that it could even escalate to the fourth or fifth largest within a relatively short period of time (Simon 2015). Brazil has an abundance of available land, minerals and agricultural resources. Additionally, it is the 9th largest producer of oil, the 3rd largest producer of Iron, and the 2nd largest producer of beef (Simon 2015). Unfortunately, despite all of these noteworthy accomplishments, Brazil’s economic growth rate has been decreasing due to its current president, and the corruption present in her cabinet. Many cities throughout Brazil have been protesting in an effort to impeach the current president, Dilma Rosseff, to end the corruption and misuse of government funds that have been rampant during her presidency. On April 18th of this year, the Brazilian legislators held a vote and approved the impeachment of Brazil’s first female president, leaving her fate sitting in the hands of the senate.*(resource) Money has been going into her pocket, as well as the pockets of some of the political elite, instead of going towards the very people who paid into it. Because of Dilma Roussef and the corrupt system she has in place, Brazilian healthcare, education, and public services are suffering a loss in funding, which is being funneled towards Rio de Janeiro in order to prepare for the upcoming Olympics and benefit Roussef rather than the entire nation.

Political parties in Brazil and corruption.

Corruption of the Government

Corruption of the Brazilian government began with former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was in office from 2003-2010. After he left office, it was estimated that he received around 30 million Reais, which is equivalent to 8 million dollars (The economist 2015). The Supreme Court investigates the majority of the politicians around 60 % of the government representatives, including the energy company Petrobras, in addition to investigating the president and the legislation representatives of the congress for the country’s biggest bribery scandal (The economist 2015).

Since March 2016, the speaker of the congress who was the most revered politician was imprisoned by the police for 19 years for a corruption scandal at Petrobras and money stealing. He basically generated billions of Reais from construction businesses given to executives and politicians in exchange for expanding contracts (The economist 2015). The funds and profits for the public are being sacrificed and disadvantaged on receiving money from