Eduardo Cunha, president of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies.

Firey House Speaker likely to punish Brazil’s Rousseff as he’s dragged into Petrobras scandal

Brazil’s political turmoil took a new but long-anticipated twist this week, when Lower House Speaker Eduardo Cunha and former president (and current Senator) Fernando Collor de Mello found themselves dragged into the shocking corruption investigation into wrongdoing at state-run oil company Petrobras.

A former president being accused of corruption would normally grab the headlines of course, but for Collor, it’s not the first time he’s faced accusations of profitting from foul play.

Instead, it’s Cunha who is the real lead here. He’s been a persistant troublemaker for under fire President Dilma Rousseff, constantly railing against the Workers’ Party (PT) and their legislative agenda and even going so far as to break from the ruling coalition earlier this month.

Just this week, he illustrated his clout once more, leading a rebellion in the Lower House to alter Rousseff’s legislation, increasing costs to the government of a severance fund for workers.

Cunha, according to reports, now becomes the first sitting politician to face charges in the Petrobras probe and for Rousseff and her Workers’ Party (PT), all eyes are on the feisty PMDB lawmaker to see whether the development weakens him and forces him from his post or merely angers him into becoming even more obstructive.

Either way, the developments are unlikely to help the president’s immediate efforts to enforce her policies. The uncertainty over Cunha’s position potentially gives him even more clout in the immediate future, with all eyes on him, and it’s unlikely he will accept the charges lying down.

Cunha, according to reports, now becomes the first sitting politician to face charges in the Petrobras probe

One analyst on Thursday warned of “violent retribution,” which sounds about right. Any decision about a possible impeachment of the president too is likely to be tainted by his anger. And it’s important to remember too that the case will not be settled quickly, being likely to drag on for years.

Cunha has angrily denied any hint of wrongdoing, claimed he is being framed and promised to continue his work as normal. So we can safely assume his anger will remain and that the new few weeks are not going to plain-sailing for Rousseff. Not so much here comes the sun, as here comes the storm.

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