Recently, Brazil has had many governmental issues that have led to massive street riots and protests. The country’s economy is stagnating, Dilma Rousseff’s, the President of Brazil, approval ratings are terrible, and prominent politicians are calling for Rousseff’s need to step down. After her powers were suspended in mid-May, impeachment proceedings have began to remove Rousseff from office. Among other things,  she is accused of doctoring official budget figures and using money from state banks in order to hide the real state of Brazil’s shrinking economy in order to help her sinking approval ratings

Despite these accusations,  she is accusing her vice president, Michel Temer, for most of the trouble in Brazil. She says that he made wrong decisions when he promised a series of pro-business reforms, slashed the number of Brazil’s ministries by nearly a third, and named an all-male and mostly white Cabinet that included a soybean tycoon as agriculture minister and an evangelical creationist as trade minister. While many of these are viewed negatively by the general public, he has taken over as President in the presence of Rousseff’s suspension.

Furthering adding to the rampant corruption, more than half of the representatives who voted to impeach Rouseff are under investigation themselves. They are being investigated for offenses ranging from bribery and homicide to slavery, including Eduardo Cunha, the former Speaker of the House and the leader of the impeachment campaign. He is accused by Brazil’s attorney general of taking as much as five million dollars in bribes.

The past year for Brazil has been rough after many years of a booming economy, and there are growing doubts that Brazil can recover anytime soon.  WHHS teacher Maria Guarino says “I hope they can get back on their feet, they’ve been through some rough times and they need some help.” Most of the “good” politicians in Brazil say that this will take time it just needs some good leadership.