• Submitted by: manso
• International
• 05 / 30 / 2011

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Almost five months after being elected, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is now facing the first attacks against her government.

For two weeks, the opposition media in Brasil has been waging an offensive involving the allegedly illicit enrichment of presidential Chief of Staff Antonio Palocci Filho, who had a turnover of around 20 million reales, almost 12 million USD, in the last four years.

"I want to assure that Minister Palocci is explaining everything to the agencies of control, the necessary explanations, even to the Attorney General's Office," Rousseff told reporters at Planalto Palace after an official event.

Another issue complicating the work of the government is the recent approval of a draft Forest Law in the Chamber of Deputies and an amendment for that text that was proposed by the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, main ally of the ruling Workers' Party.

Despite the declared position of the administration against any change to the forest law that would mean amnesty for loggers or less decision-making power for the State regarding areas of permanent preservation, that is exactly what was passed by the deputies.

The president also has to justify her decision of withdrawing anti-homophobic materials from schools, supposedly under pressure from Christian lawmakers who threatened to support a congressional summons for Palocci to explain his wealth.

To support her position, Rouseff told reporters that her government would not permit propaganda on sexual preference because it cannot interfere in people's private lives.

Source: cubasi.com