A judge’s injunction barring former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from becoming chief of staff to the South American nation’s current leader has been overturned — the latest, but hardly last twist in Brazil’s spiraling political crisis.
The decision by Judge Candido Ribeiro, the head of the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region in Brasilia, reversed an injunction issued earlier by another federal judge, Itagiba Catta Preta Neto, according to a statement issued late Thursday by Brazil’s federal courts.
But none of this represents the final word on whether the once wildly popular Brazilian leader known as Lula will have a new job — and new protections in a corruption investigation — in the Cabinet of current President Dilma Rousseff.
Ten more actions have been filed to Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court asking that this high court bar Lula da Silva from becoming Rousseff’s chief of staff, according to state-run Agencia Brasil news. And a judge in Rio de Janeiro has also filed an injunction similar to that of Preta Neto.
More court battles mean no clear end in sight on a topic that has only sharpened political divides in Brazil. And this means that this country’s leaders, past and present — rather than gearing up for what was supposed to be a crowning achievement, as the continent’s first nation to host an Olympics this summer — will be busy dealing with the fallout, including the possibility of more unrest.
Popular president focus of corruption probe
One irony of all this is that Lula da Silva was once a symbol of pride and unity for most all Brazilians. He left the presidency on January 1, 2011, after two terms, with a 90% approval rating.
Since then, he underwent chemotherapy to treat a malignant tumor in his larynx before revealing, in February 2012, that his cancer was in remission.
But his reputation took a hit earlier this month, when authorities searched his home in Sao Bernardo do Campo, the Lula Institute in Sao Paulo, his son’s home and others, federal police in the city of Curitiba told reporters.
Federal prosecutors alleged Lula da Silva benefited from a bribery scheme involving state-owned oil company Petrobras while he was president and after leaving office.
The former leader — who had flirted with the idea of running for president again in 2018 — has defiantly denied these allegations.
Rousseff backs her predecessor
And he has gotten backing from Rousseff, who herself is the subject of impeachment proceedings opened in Congress over alleged attempts to hide budget shortfalls before the 2014 elections. This backing is perhaps not surprising, considering that the two hail from the same political party and Rousseff had served as Lula da Silva’s chief of staff.
Rousseff has rationalized that she wants Lula da Silva heading her own staff because she wants to tap his expertise. Others, though, think it’s to delay court proceedings against him since senior political figures can only be tried in the Supreme Federal Court.
Christopher Sabatini, an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, thinks “the timing of it does not smell right.”
“The risk is that doubling down on this strategy is only going to really stain this administration even more,” Sabatini told CNN.
