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Brazil's Congress Considers Impeaching President Dilma Rousseff (+AUDIO)

By Lourdes Navarro

"It's political chaos in Brazil. It's unclear who's going to come out of it dead, wounded or unharmed," says AS/COA's Brian Winter on impeachment proceedings against Dilma Rousseff.

The move against President Dilma Rousseff injects a new element of instability into the political landscape in Brazil, which is being roiled by corruption scandals and a sharp economic downturn....

...GARCIA-NAVARRO: "It gives me no pleasure to take this action, and there's no political motive behind it," he said.

On the other side, there is the president, and Rousseff took to the airwaves almost immediately to accuse Cunha, the Speaker, of using impeachment to stop her government's investigation into his alleged illicit activities.

PRES DILMA ROUSSEFF: (Speaking Portuguese).

GARCIA-NAVARRO: "I would never accept or agree to any type of bargain," she said, "even less with those who threaten the independent work of the democratic institutions of my country, who try to impede justice from being done and who offend the moral and ethical principles that should govern public life," she said.

BRIAN WINTER: It's basically a shootout at the OK Corral at this point. And it's political chaos in Brazil, it's unclear who's going to come out of it, you know, dead, wounded - who's going to escape unharmed.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's Brian Winter, the vice president at the Council of the Americas. He says Rousseff is accused of cooking the federal books to mask big budget holes. Rousseff, in her statement, vehemently denied any wrongdoing yesterday, and Winter says the case against her is weak.

WINTER: You know, there's nothing serious and criminal against her at this point....

Read more and listen to the interview here.

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