Rousseff Impeachment Is Latest Sign of Latin America’s Broader Crisis of Trust

Rousseff Impeachment Is Latest Sign of Latin America’s Broader Crisis of Trust
An anti-government rally after the lower house of Brazil's Congress voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, Sao Paulo, April 17, 2016 (AP photo by Andre Penner).

When Brazil’s lower house voted Sunday in favor of launching impeachment proceedings to unseat President Dilma Rousseff, it loosened one more rock in what has recently seemed like an avalanche of disastrous news for Latin America’s left.

There’s no question that the left, which in the not-very-distant past appeared unstoppable, has been on the receiving end of voters’ frustrations with all that ails the region.

And yet, observers taking the measure of Latin American politics routinely overlook another part of the picture: Politicians of all stripes are getting battered, beaten and rejected by a restive public.

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