Millions of Brazilians in the Streets Crank Up the Pressure on Lula and Dilma

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After Brazilian federal and São Paulo state prosecutors said they believed former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had accepted illicit payments and favors connected to the massive corruption scandal known as “Lava Jato,” or “Car Wash,” at the state-owned oil company Petrobras, and had brought him in for questioning, a series of massive protests occurred in cities throughout Brazil on March 13, 2016.  Protestors called for Lula’s arrest and prosecution, and the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, his successor and protégée.  The allegations have eroded Lula’s popularity, which stood at 90% when he left office at the end of 2010, and also worsened Rousseff’s situation, whose approval rating now hovers around 10%, given a worsening recession and popular anger over austerity policies that the president instituted soon after her reelection in 2014.  Pundits continue to wrestle with coherently interpreting the ongoing crisis.