Rousseff’s ejection

The Senate voted Wednesday to impeach Dilma Rousseff. The left-leaning head of state had until recently brushed aside all accusations against her and accused her opponents of a "coup d'etat" reproached.

Brazil's political thriller has come to an end – but peace will not be found in Latin America's largest country. Dilma Rousseff, though she had beaten torture cellars and cancer, lost her biggest political battle.

By Georg Ismar, dpa

Brasilia – In the end, they once again give free rein to their sheer hatred for each other."Scoundrels, scoundrels, scoundrels," roars leftist SenatorLindberg Farias at his colleague. The champion of the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, Senator Ana Amelia, evokes the "new Brazil" without the Workers' Party.

After 26+.000 pages of files on the impeachment proceedings and hundreds of hours of meetings, verbal abuse and disputes, it is now 13.35 clock (local time) a controversial story written on that 31. August: The first president of the country is deposed. It is the end of a crime that has paralyzed the country.

61 senators voting in favor, only 20 against, a whopping two-thirds majority. In BrasilIa, firecrackers go off immediately, there are honking concerts. But the "new Brazil" is a divided one.

New President Michel Temer is not elected – only in power now due to clever moves.Who was in these days in the senate on the way, experienced politician her ownWelt. Doctoral dissertations will yet be written on the legitimacy of the removal, the alleged accounting tricks to make the deficit appear milder, and government loans not authorized by Congress.

Prosecutor Miguel Real accuses Rousseff of staging herself as a martyr – the former guerrilla fighter indirectly compared what happened to her with the injustice in the torture cellar during the military dictatorship."It has made clearly proven mistakes."

Defense attorney calls it a "coup"

Rousseff's defense lawyer, former Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo, accused her opponents of having a macho problem."May history acquit Dilma Rousseff," Cardozo said, on the verge of tears.The "parliamentary coup" will never be accepted.

For Brazil's democracy, it is the biggest test since the transition to democracy in 1985.Threethings have become clear:

1. The country actually needs new elections – but the constitution makes that almost impossible, and Rousseff would have liked to let the people vote. Vice PresidentMichel Temer and his Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) broke coalition with leftist Workers' Party in March; pact with opposition produced majorities for suspension in May and now for ouster. Temer would not get five percent in new elections. He has already been banned by a court from running for election for eight years because of illegal donations.

2. A discrediting of the political class. 60 percent of the 513 deputies and 81 senators are under investigation. The top three in the state are also facing corruption charges: Temer, Speaker of the House Rodrigo Maia and Senate PresidentRenan Calheiros. The young prosecutors and judges who are investigating the wide-ranging bribery scandal involving the Petrobras Group without regard for their names are the new stars. So far, new hopefuls in Brazil's politics are hardly in sight; the leftist Workers' Party, in power since 2003, is facing hard times.

3. The elites strike back. Four times the former shoeshine boy Luiz Inacio Lula daSilva had failed in elections, then in 2002 the triumph. Rising to become the most popular politician in the world. Successor Dilma Rousseff had less charisma and fortune; since the first day of her reelection in 2014, opponents have made life difficult for her by blocking her in parliament. A common thesis: Brazil must be prevented from becoming a second Venezuela; the Workers' Party has stolen money to bribe poor citizens with social programs. There are many politicians who are under the influence of evangelical sects – they see themselves as on a divine mission to stop the leftists.

Temer can now present himself to the other heads of state at the G20 summit in China. He has two major problems: the people are divided. And the crisis.11.8 million unemployed, collapsed oil revenues, too much bureaucracy, too large a state apparatus. Billion-dollar social programs could come under scrutiny – there is likely to be a policy shift.

What Oscar Niemeyer, who realized the architectural vision of an open democracy in BrasIlia, would say about all this? Outside the Senate, they had built a long metal wall to separate Dilma fans and haters. But hardly anyone came to demonstrate anymore. Many are tired of this ongoing drama.