In an editorial, Folha laments the coup it supported.

247 - In an editorial published this Sunday, Folha laments the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, deposed by a parliamentary coup, but attempts to support the argument that there was a crime of responsibility, when, in fact, it was the coup itself that practically broke the Brazilian economy.

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Many years in one 

Those who held power no longer wield it. Those who enjoyed status and wealth while free are now imprisoned. Economic expectations were thwarted, and the outcomes of elections considered certain were subverted at the ballot box. The world and Brazil proved to be more complex and unpredictable than anticipated in the unfolding events of 2016.

O impeachment of Dilma Rousseff (PT) is not something to celebrate. There is something wrong with a young democracy that, through the legitimate means of the Constitution, deposes two heads of state within a span of 24 years. The controls that should have prevented the use of this brutal and traumatic recourse against the presidential mandate granted by direct vote have failed.

The recurrence of impeachment was not the only unusual element. The presidential power's latitude in overriding fiscal responsibility and bolstering its support with hundreds of billions of reais in contracts and loans flowing outside the budget, through the coffers of bloated state-owned companies and banks, also proved extraordinary.

A portion of this huge sum of money flowed to politicians of all stripes in the form of bribes. Construction companies bought regulations in the legislature. They financed government and opposition figures at the federal, state, and municipal levels with the same logic as someone acquiring services in a specialized market.

If the majority of the funds taken from taxpayers, or loaned at usurious interest rates to holders of state debt, had been diligently applied, there would still be some relief.

Almost everything he did, however, was feed the Leviathan of inefficiency and megalomaniacal projects that will never be rewarded.

The lack of control over important aspects of the functioning of the State was therefore among the causes of the violent recession that engulfed Brazil from mid-2014 onwards, the effects of which accumulated in the following years and helped to demolish Dilma's popular and political base.

Also poorly controlled was a support system whose co-optation depended on dirty money.

The progress of Lava Jato and the largest popular demonstrations of the so-called New Republic did what preventive measures failed to achieve. They imposed a high cost on maintaining the status quo. Dilma didn't understand the message, bet on more of the same, fueled polarization—and fell.

The message that the law prevails over everyone—reinforced by other legal actions that brought down powerful figures—and the willingness of thousands of people to stand up in the streets against the current government are among the few positive aspects in a year full of bad news.

The Public Prosecutor's Office and the Judiciary have been strengthened, but the lengthy duration and proliferation of arrests without a formal judgment of guilt, the practice of imposing coercive measures on those who never refused to testify, and the disclosure by authorities of information outside the legal framework are worrying occurrences that intensified in 2016.

The exemplary speed of Curitiba in handling criminal cases highlighted the slowness of the Attorney General's Office in cases submitted to the Supreme Federal Court. This double standard sends a terrible message: those who have lost political power in Brasília are the most crippled, even within the justice system.

Illuminated and perhaps encouraged by the spotlight, the whims and idiosyncrasies of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) have also been costly. Ministers have commented on the most delicate issues outside of court proceedings and have individually interfered in matters typically within the legislative or executive sphere.

Cornered, congressional leaders reacted in the worst possible way. They did not give up on retaliating against those investigating them. The president of the Senate went so far as to... to ignore a court order.

In economics, the late but necessary remedy administered to the careless patient will be a Straitjacket on public spending For at least a decade, in addition to a very harsh pension reform for all workers. This bitter recipe tends to be replicated in the states. Not accepting it will lead to the collapse of basic services.

Outside the country, the situation didn't help. The threat of nationalism became more than a hypothesis after the victory of isolationist campaigns in the United Kingdom—which decided in June to leave the European Union—and in the USA—which They elected Donald Trump. in November.

The best doctrine of human coexistence and progressive thought have suffered a historic setback.

Brazil failed to take precautions and is suffering even more. We can only hope that we have learned the key lessons, so that future crises here will at least be mild and will find a much stronger democracy to combat them.