Marina's quote exposes the system's failure.

Marina Silva is the latest addition to the long list of politicians, from all parties, already cited by the construction companies involved in the Lava Jato corruption scandal as beneficiaries of hidden donations. In his preliminary plea bargain agreement, OAS executive Léo Pinheiro stated that he made an off-the-books donation to her campaign in 2010, as revealed by O Globo. According to columnist Mônica Bérgamo of Folha de São Paulo, he also mentioned José Serra, but the Foreign Minister had already appeared on the Odebrecht list, which disappeared. The circle encompassing practically all parties only confirms what Lava Jato prefers to ignore: the root cause of all corruption, generating the current political crisis, is the financing scheme of the political system (the system as a whole, not just some parties) by companies that exploit the state. Lava Jato will pass, Sergio Moro will pass, and everything will remain as before if the essentials are not changed.

Marina is outraged and saying what others have already said: all the donations she received were legal and registered. The R$400 donation from OAS was made to the Green Party of Rio, not to her campaign. Serra has not yet commented on the Folha article.

In 2010, Marina was a member of the Green Party (PV) and even led the race, finishing in third place. According to the rapporteur, the donation was "hidden"—and negotiated with Congressman Alfredo Sirkis and the vice-presidential candidate Guilherme Leal—because she didn't want to explicitly link it to the construction company. In 2010, Marina was criticized for receiving donations from other companies that were not considered environmentally responsible. Whether or not the donation occurred, Pinheiro's account, even if fictional, resonates with what always happens: in the desperation of the campaign, with money lacking to face wealthy opponents, principles end up being relativized. And this applies both to majoritarian races and to campaigns for congressmen when renewing their mandates. Without money, the Sophie's choice often arises: legally accept an indefensible donation or conceal it, even if it is an electoral crime?

The former senator and leader of the Rede party has always criticized campaign financing through corporate donations. She has always defended exclusively public campaign financing. Informants are not the sole possessors of the truth, and the more extensive their testimonies, the more valued they become by Lava Jato. And the greater the reward in reduced sentences. All of this must be considered, but when the water reaches Marina Silva, an emblem of purism in politics after the PT joined the scheme, we are faced with one piece of evidence: in the current political-party-electoral system, there is no salvation outside of collusion with the financiers.

And what they finance is not just campaigns, it's the system itself: the campaigns, the parties' spending during the off-season, and the expenses of the most relevant actors in the system, which exceed their income and are a result of the activities they carry out, they say. And that includes everything: airplanes, trips, payments to aides, expenses with lovers, and alimony. In Sergio Machado's recordings, there is a reference to this, in which he says that it's not just campaign spending "but the entire structure." Odebrecht, in its March statement, also uses a more precise expression when it speaks of "illegal and illegitimate financing of the political-party system."

The financing schemes of the system vary according to the governments that come and go. Each one invents its own. Who doubts, nowadays, that the privatizations of the FHC era provided resources for the political financing of the ruling bloc, then led by the PSDB? Upon reaching government, the PT joined the club, and because of who it was, it needed to be more generous in sharing the sources of resources. In the coalition presidentialism, under PT governments, the rent-seeking parties bared their teeth even more. Despite the large votes obtained by Lula and Dilma, the PT never managed to win 20% of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Even when it elected the largest bloc, it only got 17% or 18% of the votes. From a left-wing government, and with such dependence on other parties, much more could be demanded. And so we arrive at the Petrobras scandal.

 It wasn't the Workers' Party (PT) that invented the alliance with construction companies. Nor was it the first to appoint directors of state-owned companies to act as party operators, collecting hidden "donations" for partners in the political system and "bribes" for themselves. Moro decreed that everything is bribery and ignores the connection between the nature of the system and corruption. Treating everything as theft is easier and produces more visible results: full prisons, abundant plea bargains, convictions underway. All in vain if there is no political change.

It's astonishing that Lava Jato has managed to delegitimize the system and put democracy itself at risk without any force rising up to confront the root cause. The Supreme Court banned corporate donations, but Congress hasn't approved any other form of campaign financing to replace donations. The party fund is far from sufficient to finance campaigns. Donations from individuals, due to lack of tradition and other factors, will be insignificant. No changes have been made to party rules that would lead to an effective reduction in campaign costs. For example, establishing that candidates' programs must be live and in a studio. This would end the production industry and the clout of marketing professionals. Since campaigns will remain expensive and party funds will be scarce, hidden donations will continue.

 Furthermore, a system with nearly 30 parties will never allow a president, upon being elected, to count on strong representation from their own party in Congress, thus freeing them from the blackmail of those parties.

Throughout the crisis, the PT (Workers' Party) had no power whatsoever to impose political reform. Eduardo Cunha dictated the cosmetic changes that were approved. Temer took over and has been reinventing everything in Brazil in reverse: foreign policy, economic policy, social policies, social security, and everything else. The only reform he didn't promise was to the political-electoral system. And he couldn't promise it, being a prisoner of the PMDB (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party) and the centrão (center bloc), the most complete expressions of the regime in which parties exchange votes for favors.

The crisis would have to be even more acute to force the only path that would lead us to a new political pact: an exclusive Constituent Assembly, which would clean up the political-electoral system that the 1988 Constituent Assembly refused to touch. Despite so many virtues, and having produced a Constitution that was advanced in so many other aspects, the Constituent Assembly carries this guilt.

Moro: What more besides a reprimand?

When he appeared saying, in one of his wiretapped conversations, that the Supreme Court was cowardly, former President Lula was referring to the court's inaction regarding the abuses of Judge Sergio Moro and the leadership of Operation Lava Jato. Now, by returning cases involving Lula to Curitiba, Minister Teori Zavascki makes the first official criticisms of Moro, pointing to an overreach of the Supreme Court's powers and alleging that the illegally recorded conversation between the former president and Dilma committed a crime. Moro shouldn't have even been allowed to comment on the content of that conversation about the terms of office. Teori's rebuke shattered Moro's aura of untouchability, but one question remains: what other measures should be taken against a judge who commits such serious infractions?