International News

SAO PAULO, (APP/AFP): Brazil’s ex-president Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva rallied his labor union support base Wednesday against a swelling movement to oust his successor, Dilma Rousseff, and block his own political comeback.
With an explosive corruption scandal and a deep recession threatening
his party’s 13-year rule, Lula told a packed hall of union members and supporters in Sao Paulo that Brazil must not allow Rousseff’s opponents to stage a “coup.”
He criticized the upheaval caused by the anti-graft investigation
dubbed “Operation Car Wash,” which blew the lid off a multi-billion-dollar corruption scheme and upended Brazilian politics by ensnaring a plethora of powerful business execs and politicians — including Lula himself.
“I would like to calmly ask (the investigators) if they are talking
about how much Operation Car Wash has damaged the Brazilian economy,” he said, as the country reported its highest unemployment rate in seven years, 8.2 percent.
US President Barack Obama meanwhile weighed in on the turmoil
sweeping Latin America’s largest country.
“We hope Brazil resolves its current political crisis in an effective
way,” he told a press conference in Argentina, where he is on a two-day visit.
“We need a strong and effective Brazil.”