Lula Joins President's Cabinet in Brazil, Avoiding Arrest

[Jefferson23]

Joao Feres, Jr. talks about the protests, corruption, and a possible new direction for a Rousseff-Silva government in Brazil - March 17, 2016

Video only, 12 minutes approx.

Bio

Joao Feres Jr. is a political science professor at Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Pol�ticos (IESP), of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). Since 2005, Feres Jr. has been the coordinator of Grupo de Estudos Multidisciplinares da Acao Afirmativa (GEMAA), a research group that focuses on the study of affirmative action policies in higher education in Brazil and elsewhere, from a variety of disciplinary viewpoints. He also heads Laboratorio de Estudos da Midia e Esfera Publica (LEMEP), a research group dedicated to the analysis of the news media coverage in the fields of culture and politics. He has published extensively on affirmative action and race relations in Brazil and in the US, media and politics, and is now conducting a comprehensive study about the impact of affirmative action policies in Brazil's higher education public system on social inequalities.

[Eugene]

1. Brazil: judge halts Lula's appointment to cabinet amid corruption scandal

Source: The Guardian

Brazil: judge halts Lula's appointment to cabinet amid corruption scandal

Bruce Douglas in Brasília and Sam Cowie in São Paulo​
Thursday 17 March 2016 19.23 GMT

Brazil’s wildly chaotic and increasingly tense political crisis has taken another twist after a judge suspended former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s appointment to cabinet moments after he was sworn in.

The decision on Wednesday by president Dilma Rousseff to appoint Lula as her new chief of staff prompted anti-government demonstrations across Brazil, as a secretly recorded phone call between the two suggested his appointment to a ministerial position was motivated by a desire to avoid prosecution in Brazil’s worst corruption scandal.

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On Thursday morning Lula was sworn in as a cabinet minister despite protests both inside and outside the presidential palace.

Supporters in the gallery where the ceremony took place chanted Lula’s name as he walked in, while an opposition congressman who shouted “shame” was quickly bundled out.

Moments later, Itagiba Catta Preta Neto, a judge from a federal court in Brasília granted an injunction against Lula’s appointment, claiming the move could compromise a police investigation.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/17/brazil-judge-lula-da-silva-appointment-cabinet-wiretap-scandal-rousseff

[Jefferson23]

2. wow..thanks, Eugene. n/t