The Brazilian Senate has just voted by a majority of 55 votes to 22 to proceed with the impeachment the President Dilma Rousseff. Michel Temer, the Vice-President, and member of the bourgeois PMDB, is now making preparations to form a new right-wing government. This marks the end of a long period of relative political stability in Brazil. The economy is in its worst recession since the 1930s. It is in this context that we can understand the recent dramatic shifts and turns in the political situation.

The 1st May in Brazil occurred in this year amid the deepening economic crisis and the political crisis in the country with the opening of impeachment of President Dilma Roussef, driven by the bourgeoisie to raise a government able to implement deeper the austerity measures demanded by capital.

The impeachment of Dilma was approved on Sunday by a united front of bourgeois parties in order to establish a government of Temer [current vice-president] and Cunha [Parliamentary speaker], with support from the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democratic Party), DEM (Democrats) and other parties.

Dramatic events unfolded in Brazil last night as the Congress [Parliament] voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff. The whole country was following the process, divided into two camps, the reactionary pro-impeachment bourgeois and petit bourgeois, and the anti-impeachment workers and youth.

The Brazilian bourgeoisie has decided that it is time to take back direct control of the government. It no longer wants an outsourced government. For this reason, the united front of the ruling class called the demonstrations of 13th March.

Federal Police arrived at the home of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at 6am on Friday, March 4th, executing a bench warrant, commanding him to appear before the authorities to give testimony. Lula was released 3 hours later and has not yet been indicted.

The President [Speaker] of the Brazilian parliament, Eduardo Cunha is manoeuvring in an attempt to save his own skin. [Cunha has been charged with taking millions in bribes in connection with a kickbacks scheme that has embroiled state-run oil company Petrobras.] What does his acceptance of the request to initiate impeachment against Dilma mean? And what position should the working class adopt?

Both the internal and external debt of Brazil are skyrocketing. The internal debt has reached R$3.6trn and the external debt is now US$555bn. International capital is becoming worried about default.

In April this year, the Marxist Left decided, in its National Conference, to break with the PT, faced with the irreversible and accelerated process of the party’s liquidation as a class party. (see Esquerda Marxista (Marxist Left) decides to leave the PT and fight for a left front)

On Wednesday, September 2, there were simultaneous protests outside the Mexican consulates in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

During the 11th to the 13th of June the downbeat 5th Congress of the PT (Partido Trabalhador – the “Workers Party”) took place. This was a congress marked by disinterest in the plenary speeches, by booing from its participants, by pessimism about the political situation, demonstrating a crisis in the Party that deepens every day. This situation is set to continue as this Congress reaffirmed the political line that caused all this, a line promoted by the interests of a corrupted leadership.

On April 20 and 21, Esquerda Marxista held its "Chico Lessa" National Conference in the city of Praia Grande, near São Paulo. There were more than 100 participants from different states of the country, including delegates from the different regions. The delegates were elected following political discussions over the Central Committees report on the situation in Brazil. The Conference took place after the successful National Cadre School, an educational meeting held between April 17 and 19 in the  same area as the Conference.

More than 200 people are reported to have been injured as a teachers protest was violently attacked by special force police in the Brazilian city of Curitiba. The activists of the Esquerda Marxista [Marxist Left], the Brazilian section of the IMT, were present on the front line of the demonstration. Besides tear gas, which was thrown from police helicopters, the Police attacked the crowds with thousands of rubber bullets, pepper gas, water canons and attack dogs. At the same time 17 police

Esquerda Marxista, the IMT in Brazil, recently held its national congress where, among other things, they discussed and approved the need for a new orientation to reach the advanced layers of the working class and youth. Here we present a brief account of what the Central Committee presented to the congress.

Some people never die; they live on in the legacy they leave behind. This was the feeling of those who filled the chamber of the City Council of Joinville on March 5 to pay tribute to Comrade Francisco Lessa. Old and new comrades in arms, family and friends, from various cities and states, gathered to remember this great man, a convinced Communist, who died holding an unshakable faith in the future of humanity. His lifelong partner, our comrade Cynthia, and his daughter Petra Lessa, were present and joined the others who stood up to sing the Internationale at the end of the ceremony.