Senate-imposed President of Brazil Michel Temer met with U.S. Embassy staff on at least two occasions to brief them on the country's politics. Whistleblower website WikiLeaks described the Senate-imposed President of Brazil Michel Temer as a “U.S. Embassy informant” in a tweet and provided two links where Temer's candid thoughts on Brazilian politics serve as the basis for a report by the U.S. embassy in Brazil.
Temer became interim president after the Brazilian Senate voted to proceed with an impeachment trial against President Dilma Rousseff, forcing her to step down for a period of 180 days. Temer has been criticized for making clear his intention of pursuing a pro-business, neoliberal program as president, despite the fact that Rousseff and her Workers' Party were reelected on the basis of a progressive program of social investment and wealth redistribution.
UNASUR Head Says Rousseff Remains 'Legitimate Leader' of Brazil The cable also reveals that in 2006 Temer's party, the PMDB, was considering an alliance with both the leftist Workers' Party and the right-wing PSDB. The PMDB's tendency to switch sides would later prove to be a critical element in efforts by Brazilian elites to oust Rousseff. Despite having been elected vice president alongside Rousseff, Temer betrayed his former allies and joined in efforts to oust the president via impeachment.
In that cable Temer laments the lack of power given to PMDB ministers during the Lula government. “Temer spoke caustically of the Lula administration's miserly rewards for its allies in the PMDB,” reads the cable. Temer's
bitterness over being left out of Rousseff's governance decisions was
said to be one of the factors that motivated his eventual support for
her impeachment. Source: Telesur |