Carta abierta a Mogherini por Dilma Rousseff – Open Letter on the coup against president Dilma Rousseff

OPEN LETTER TO THE HR/VP FEDERICA MOGHERINI ON THE IMPEACHMENT OF THE BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT

Brussels, 1st September 2016

Dear Ms Mogherini,

We would like to express our utmost dismay after the decision taken yesterday by the corruptiontainted Brazilian Senate to remove elected president Dilma Roussef from office. Many have called this move a parliamentary coup, and rightly so.

After terrible precedents in Honduras (2009) and Paraguay (2012), Latin America now faces the third serious backlash of democracy in the XXI century. The impeachment for a crime which – according the country’s Federal Public Ministry – Dilma Roussef has not committed, will deeply affect the construction of inclusive democracy in Brazil and the whole region. It will have destabilizing effects not only in the short, but also in the longer run, if the world keeps quiet.

As in the other two countries mentioned, the overthrow of the president was not committed by the use of arms, but by clear abuse of parliamentary means. Many, if not most of the 61 senators who voted in favour of ousting Dilma Roussef, face trials for bribery scandals and other crimes. Their vote against Dilma Roussef was a clear attempt to escape from justice, as the new Government promised to strike down investigations.

Dear Ms Mogherini, we cannot let this go. We cannot reward corruption and concealment of unjust enrichment by simply going back to business as usual. We cannot continue to negotiate an Association Agreement with the Mercosur countries, as if nothing had happened and as if the Brazilian Senate hadn’t orchestrated a dramatic attack at the democratic institutional integrity of the country.

We urge you therefore to please speak out clearly against the threat to democracy in Brazil, to reject the parliamentary coup and to stop negotiations of an Association Agreement with the Mercosur, as long as the member countries are not represented by governments, which came into office by legal democratic procedures, and not by scandalous maneuvering.

Marina ALBIOL

Xabier BENITO ZILUAGA

Javier COUSO PERMUY

Tania GONZALEZ PENAS

Paloma LOPEZ BERMEJO

Marisa MATIAS

María Dolores Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY

Molly SCOTT CATO

Jordi SEBASTIÀ

Igor SOLTES

Bart STAES

Josep-Maria TERRICABRAS

Estefania TORRES MARTÍNEZ

Miguel URBAN CRESPO

Ernest URTASUN

Members of the European Parliament

Download: Letter Ms Mogherini