Spotlight on conspiracy...

… to pervert justice. The saga continues. Demonstrations against the appointment of ex-President Lula to one of Brazil’s highest ministerial posts continued all night in São Paulo and Brasília. Social media sites overflowed with indignation (mostly contra, but some pro-government) and many of us got little sleep, worrying about the situation.
 
The noise was tremendous as I trekked down to our internet provider (the fifth visit in three weeks, not to mention ten equally ineffective phone calls). Hundreds of car horns blaring, people bashing saucepans and shouting their disapproval, while the TVs showed the hastily arranged investiture ceremony in Brasília. I watched some of it from the shop, exchanging commiserations with the lad who’s trying to help me sort out our plan.  
 
A strange detail is that in her speech, our current President referred to President Lula, rather than ex-President Lula – practically announcing a tandem government. One elected and one unelected President. Whatever next?
 
Later we heard that a judge had brought an injunction invalidating the investiture. Unfortunately, the legality of the injunction and of the release by the judge leading the investigations in Curitiba of recordings of compromising phone calls between Lula, Dilma, politicians and ex-ministers are rather controversial and could misfire. We’ll have to wait and see - again.

P.S. I went out again after posting this - and got caught in the traffic jam caused by yet another anti-government protest. Luckily, a friendly bus driver told me about a short cut I didn't know existed. A great discovery that came in very useful last night and will do in the future!