Why Corruption in Brazil Cannot Be Tackled With 'a Wave of a Wand'

Temer has allegedly sanctioned a Brazilian businessman's continued payments to silence a witness in a probe into the nation’s state oil company Petrobras, a report published by the Brazilian media outlet Globo suggested last week.

The Brazilian President has denied any wrongdoing and said he would not stand down. There were reports about Brazilian soldiers being deployed to defend government buildings in the capital Brasilia earlier this week.

Temer took over from former leader Dilma Rousseff after she was impeached in 2016 for allegedly misusing state funds. If he leaves, the top job will go to the lower house speaker until the scheduled election in October 2018.

In an interview with Sputnik Brazil, Carlos Eduardo Martins, a political analyst from the country said that the situation "is becoming increasingly difficult"  for Temer's government and that a recent arrest of his former aide Tadeu Filippelli only adds fuel to the fire.

"Some believe that this judicial and police operation to fight corruption will unfold on such a scale that it will affect the whole system, including its parts which used this fight against corruption used in 2016 in order to stage a coup," Martins said, referring to Rousseff's controversial ouster.

In this vein, he referred to the authorities investigating allegations that Brazil's largest meat producer JBS ostensibly bribed government officials to approve the sale and export of contaminated meat.

"The Brazilian state is deeply corrupt, especially when it comes to big capital. The JBS case clearly indicates that the police investigations and judicial sanctions are powerless to counter these sectors, given that the JBS was able to escape punishment by making a denunciation," he said.

Martins was echoed by another Brazilian political analyst, Ricardo Ismael, who said that "the large companies completely corrupted the political and party system of Brazil."

"Particularly corrupt elements include the Workers' Party (PT), the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMBD) and the Party of the Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB); in general, the entire [political system] system has been strongly compromised," he said.

He added that his country badly needs an urgent updating of the leadership, as well as the renewal of political parties and the policy itself, especially with respect to this "promiscuity between state and private institutions."

"This cannot be done with a wave of a wand. You cannot just come and dismiss senators and federal deputies. The only thing that now unites the country is the Constitution… It is necessary to decide these corrupted officials' future during the next parliamentary elections," he said.

According to him, "the process of the renewal of political culture in Brazil should come within the framework of democracy, despite all its shortcomings and problems."

Meanwhile, Joao Capiberibe, a senator from the Brazilian Socialist Party [PSB] told Sputnik Brazil that President Temer will probably be forced to resign in the coming days and that there are different scenarios for the president's departure from his post.

"The first one is to resign, this would be the quietest, fastest and most painless way for us to overcome the political crisis, and consequently the economic one in which the country has been living for more than two years. The second is the verdict of the Supreme Electoral Court, which is set to hear the case against Dilma and Temer," Capiberibe said.

The President denied the allegations, but admitted to speaking to Calero about the matter.

Capiberibe said that the possible impeachment process against Temer is likely to be faster than that against Rousseff.

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