On May 11, Brazilian senators voted overwhelmingly to begin impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers’ Party (PT) temporarily removing her from office for up to six months. The ex-vice president, Michel Temer, of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), has now assumed the presidency.

This undemocratic parliamentary coup, based on flimsy charges of fiscal irresponsibility, was boosted by a widespread campaign by the corporate media and key sectors of the ruling class disgruntled by the modest reforms and tepid left neoliberalism of the PT.

In his first days in office, Temer and his twenty-three all-male all-white ministers with significant representatives from the evangelical Christian and agro-business sectors announced plans to further privatize state assets, cut social programs and labor rights, and introduce a strict law-and-order regime.