Another Brazilian minister out, but Rousseff riding high

By Helmut Reuter Feb 5, 2012, 6:06 GMT

Brasilia - Just two weeks ago, Brazil's cities minister saw himself as 'more solid than the pyramids of Egypt,' but allegations continued to fly in the media and Mario Negromonte has been forced to resign.

The media pressure was too great and political support within his Progressive Party (PP) and from President Dilma Rousseff too thin for him to survive the onslaught.

The continuing scandals that have forced ministers in Rousseff's government to resign at the rate of almost one a month have, however, not put a dent in Rousseff's standing with the electorate. She remains more popular than any of her predecessors since the end of the military dictatorship that ran the huge country between 1964 and 1985.

In office since January 2010, Negromonte, 61, announced his resignation after talks with his party. The move followed allegations that his ministry had manipulated public contracts for transport systems. He is also said to have offered bribes totalling 30,000 reals (17,000 dollars) to members of congress in return for votes.

Negromonte, a lawyer by training, firmly denies the allegations, insisting he is the victim of a targeted campaign against his integrity - in much the same way that the other seven ministers forced to resign in recent months have claimed.

'Over the course of what is in effect a power struggle, parts of the media have repeated baseless allegations in an aggressive and persistent way,' Negromonte said. He indicated he would remain in the capital to continue to fill his role as elected member of parliament after vacating his ministerial position.

Rousseff's cabinet of 38 ministers reflects the more than a dozen smaller and larger parties that support her government in the Brazilian Congress. Observers tend to see the system as providing a breeding ground for corruption.

The Brazilian daily Folha de Sao Paulo wrote in an editorial Friday that with or without Negromonte, the Cities Ministry had been created purely to cater to the interests of the PP, a small party in the congress.

'Negromonte goes. A replacement is named. Little wonder that the news . is greeted with indifference. The unusual system of 'specialization' continued to be observed that awards each of the coalition parties control of one or other portfolio,' the paper said.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, president from 1995 to 2002, has taken a similar view following the multiple resignations, blaming his successor and Rousseff's predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for the series of scandals.

Cardoso accused Lula of single-mindedly expanding his support base in congress during his second term from 2007 to 2010 by incorporating as many parties as possible. Lula had in this way opened the way to public funds for certain political groups, Cardoso said.

Nevertheless, Rousseff appears immune to the corruption-driven resignations from her cabinet. Assessing her first year in office, some 59 per cent of Brazilians recently described her leadership as 'good' or even 'very good'.

This record figure pushed even Lula into second place. The popular two-term president scored 42 and 50 per cent respectively at the end of the first year of each of his terms.

Brazil's continuing economic boom in the face of global economic turbulence has certainly worked in Rousseff's favour, but so has her clear message to her ministers of 'zero tolerance' when it comes to corruption.