Witzel: resignation would be the only way out.

The contract between the first lady, Helena Witzel, and one of the companies belonging to the state's largest supplier, Mário Peixoto, revealed by Operation Placebo, brings an end to the Wilson Witzel administration, even if it survives for some time longer. Inspired by the practices of Adriana Anselmo, wife of Sérgio Cabral, the contractual document formalizes the promiscuous relationship between the businessman – a notorious corruptor in Rio de Janeiro's public administration – and the Witzel family. 

If the suspicions revolved around secretaries and collaborators, one could allege breach of trust, disloyalty, and the like. Since the central focus of the investigations is the governor's wife, there's no way to shift responsibility. Wives can be unfaithful in personal relationships, driven by fleeting passions. But in business dealings based on contracts with suppliers to the government run by their husbands, there's no chance of that happening. 

The Federal Police operation reveals the reasons for Witzel's disturbing silence in the face of the accusations. It explains why the governor, despite the evidence, refused to dismiss the collaborators involved, starting with Secretary Lucas Tristão, the main link between Guanabara Palace and Artur Soares' successor in leading the government contracts mafia, businessman Mário Peixoto. Witzel and Helena are inseparable from a moral standpoint. 

Without projects for the state, without resources for governance, without popular support, without a majority in the Rio de Janeiro State Legislative Assembly, with enemies in the federal administration and now also without credibility, Witzel leads a moribund government. He watches inertly the moral decay of his administration without being able to do anything, since the biggest accusation rests on his own wife. Resignation would be his only way out.