BRAZIL-What a week!

Delcídio Amaral threatens a plea bargain

PT Senator Delcídio Amaral has indicated that he is discussing a plea bargain. This week’s issue of ItsoÉ magazine came out with an article listing the things Delcídio plans to sing about

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My New Jersey “mob-mind” suggests a conspiratorial element to Delcídio’s statement.

The following sequence of events feeds my hypothesis:

• Delcídio was arrested and later released to return to his seat in the Senate perhaps to evaluate the situation with his “old gang”;
• He was possibly chagrined to discover that he did not enjoy the support of the “family” possibly based on the revelation that he might be considering a plea bargain and discovering support for his impeachment among his colleagues;
• Perhaps concluding that his political career was “kaput” he decided to send up a trial balloon of the topics he could discuss;
• He presumably knew the ritual of the Public Prosecutor that requires that a plea bargain be analyzed in private audience and if agreed to and witnessed by (in this case) the Supreme Court the audience is rendered confidential and the subjects discussed not revealed unless resulting in an indictment of those cited in depositions in exchange for a lighter sentence (or better, a dismissal of the charges against him);
• The Public Prossecutor would have no interest in “leaking” the information since it would simply prejudice the plea bargain process;
• Delcídio denied that he personally released the information and did not know who might have done it. The article released some rather explosive information and certainly caused consternation in the administration and for Lula. 
• However, without the formal witness of the Supremes, the information cannot be included in the bargain; (Hmmm!)
• Delcídio, however, would have an interest in letting the administration know in advance that he has even more “stuff” in his locker that is even more explosive and encourage Dilma & Co. to take steps to soft-pedal the investigation via the new Minister of Justice;

As I wrote in my blog reporting Delcídio’s arrest, as the interface with all the allied parties in the Senate, he was at least in a position to know a helluva lot and perhaps might open a veritable Pandora’s Box of additional stuff.

That seems to be the conclusion of the administration and Lula. It now takes precedence over all other matters!

In another corner of the Judiciary, the Court ruled against Dilma’s order to commute the sentence of José Dirceu, reportedly the intellectual mentor of the PT and Lula and good “buddy” of Fidel Castro, so he stays in the slammer pending the outcome of the second investigation against him in the Lava-Jato operation.

Why Dilma even wasted a presidential bullet to commute the sentence of a prisoner sentenced for his involvement in the mensalãoinvestigation and while serving that sentence, was accused of being involved in the Petrobrás fraud scheme is a mystery to me. That strikes me as tantamount to raising one’s middle finger at the Judiciary, or no? If there was no method to that madness, it is simply madness!

It’s been a rough week for the administration! And the villagers have appeared with their torches and pitchforks. Keep your head down and your eyes wide open!