My Father-in-law came over this morning for a over breakfast visit with the boys and I. While he skimmed his paper he produced his unique ashamed and disgusted expression. (I really have to get a picture of it one day. It's adorable) He then stated:
"It is shameful how many ministers have been outed for corruption in this country!"
I understand his point. Orlando Silva is the 4th minister to resign right? 5th? Oh wait nope, he's the lucky 6th to resign after scandalous allegations. Hell, who wouldn't be ashamed of their country after that?
Not me! I'm kind of stoked for Brazil. As opposed to the corruption just continuing, people are pointing fingers! Sure this guy has collected a pretty penny and probably owns more than 1 Toyota Corolla and all the Fisher Price toys available in Lojas Americanas. Who cares though because the game is over now... or in 30 days. Who's counting anyway?
The absolutely amazing thing is that they are all innocent, or so they say. Obviously they are only resigning in order to protect their families and friends. President Dilma Rousseff even backed Brazilian Agriculture Minister Wagner Rossi when he was up against allegations.
“I regret the minister couldn’t count on the principle of presumed innocence,” Rousseff said in a statement distributed to reporters in Brasilia."
Presumed innocence? Come on. One example of what Brazilians are dealing with is when President Rousseff had to force the resignation of 20 officials at the transport ministry after an article in Veja claimed there had been kickbacks and overcharging. And you are asking the Brazilian public to presume innocence of anyone working for the government?
I hate to break it to you President Rousseff but I think anyone working in your government should be grateful that the public isn't demanding that cavity searches are performed at the end of each day.
None-the-less, Brazilians shouldn't be ashamed of this. This is Brazil moving forward and shaking the shit out of the trees. When I moved here it felt like corruption was expected and that there wasn't much you could do about it other then vote for a different party during the next election. Now it seems that the public is expecting answers and when there aren't any they expect the government to react.
Personally, I think that is a good thing.
