Dilma Rousseff will certainly tell you that it is not easy to be the president of Brazil; it never is, but nowadays even more so. For a significant share of 2015 her government has been engulfed in a corruption scandal involving the massive state energy company, Petrobras, whose board of directors she formerly led; numerous state officials; and the country’s construction giants.

Known as Lava Jato Operation (“Operation Car Wash”), the scandal added strength to months of right-wing protests demanding Rousseff’s impeachment and attacking the Workers’ Party (PT) she represents.

This does not mean that we should feel sorry for her. Far from it, as this is something the PT has brought on itself (despite the party’s hopes that the consequences will not last longer than Rousseff’s mandate — full or cut short as the Brazilian right would have it). Though the crisis has been seized upon by the Right, its roots lie in the party’s historical modus operandi.