The fate of Brazil’s president hangs in the balance.docxVIP

Dangling manThe fate of Brazil’s president hangs in the balanceMichel Temer is in serious trouble. But he has reserves of strength“IF THEY want, let them bring me down!” So declared Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, in a newspaper interview on May 22nd. He is the second president in the space of a year who is fighting to stay in office in the face of allegations of wrongdoing and dismal poll ratings. His predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached in 2016 on a technical violation of public-accounting law. The allegations against MrTemer are far graver, but his chances of remaining president may be brighter. Whether he stays or goes, the accusations against him are momentous. The blow to his prestige and influence will delay, and might destroy, vital reforms to Brazil’s economy, which is only beginning to emerge from its worst-ever recession.MrTemer’s woes began on May 17th when?O Globo, a newspaper, reported that, on a tape recorded by Joesley Batista, a billionaire businessman, he is heard endorsing payment of hush money to a politician jailed for his role in the Petrobras scandal. This originally centred on the state-run oil company but has expanded beyond it. In a related sting, police filmed Rodrigo Loures, a congressman from MrTemer’s Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB) and formerly his right-hand man, accepting a bag with 500,000 reais ($153,000) in cash. MrTemer solicited millions in irregular payments, claimed Mr Batista and a subordinate.MrTemer has protested his innocence in speeches and interviews. He portrays himself as the victim of a “perfect crime” committed by Mr Batista, who framed him in exchange for near-total immunity from prosecution (see?article). MrTemer’s fate is in the hands of the courts, his allies in congress and public opinion, any one of which could bring him down. The evidence against him is shocking but inconclusive. MrTemer has strengths that his hapless predecessor did not.Trashing the tapeEdson Fachin, a judge on the s