12 April 2016•Update: 21 April 2016
By Maria Paz Salas
SANTIAGO, Chile
A special congressional committee in Brazil voted Monday to recommend that impeachment proceeding advance against President Dilma Rousseff.
By a 38-27 vote, the 65 congressmen decided in favor of the procedure to take Rousseff one step closer to a political trial.
The Brazilian president is accused of violating fiscal rules to mask budget problems in the lead up to the 2014 elections.
While her supporters said the move is an attempt at a “coup” orchestrated by Vice President Michel Temer, the opposition described the decision as the “end of the era of the Workers Party”, which the President of the Popular Socialist Party described as a “criminal organization."
The 11-hours vote existed in a tense atmosphere in which Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo said the process was “contaminated” and wasn’t valid.
"It is absurd to dismiss a president who has not committed crimes or has stolen a penny," he said.
The recommendation now depends on the 513-member Chamber of Deputies in Congress who will decide whether to continue with the impeachment process.
To move forward there, it will require a two-thirds majority of 342 votes for the measure to go to the Senate. Thus far, support for the measure is in doubt.
If the measure passes the Senate, Rousseff would be suspended from office for up to 180 days during a trial. Leadership of the country would then fall to Temer, who is also under investigation.
