Foreign interests, particularly those of the United States, that seek to gain easier access to Brazil's lucrative energy resources have played a critical role in undermining the country's political stability, President of Brazil's leading opposition Workers' Party (PT) Gleisi Hoffmann told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th December, 2019) Foreign interests, particularly those of the United States, that seek to gain easier access to Brazil's lucrative energy resources have played a critical role in undermining the country's political stability, President of Brazil's leading opposition Workers' Party (PT) Gleisi Hoffmann told Sputnik.
Hoffmann previously served under former presidents Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, both of whom represented the PT. Both Lula and Rousseff were forced to leave office after being caught up in the ongoing Operation car Wash criminal investigation into a massive web of political corruption centered around the state-controlled oil company Petrobras. Lula was imprisoned for alleged corruption in 2018, but was then released on November 8 by order of the supreme court. These developments paved the way for incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro's rise to power.
"I have no doubt that many foreign interests, mainly US ones, were involved in this process of Brazil's political destabilization, which unseated Dilma and arrested Lula, removing the PT party from the governing the republic," Hoffmann, who also serves as a lower house lawmaker, said.
These outside forces aim to deprive Petrobras of its preemptive bidding rights for hydrocarbon concessions and minimize the price companies need to pay to extract Brazil's energy resources, the lawmaker underlined.
The latest auction of Brazil's offshore oil drilling rights, which has failed to attract considerable foreign investment, is being used by the Bolsonaro government to amend the legislation, Hoffmann continued, adding that the amendments may weaken Petrobras and fail to benefit the Brazilian people since the companies will no longer be required to direct funds to welfare.
In November, Brazil held a "blockbuster" auction of its offshore oil blocks, but major energy companies such as ExxonMobil and BP did not participate in the bidding. Brazil's economy minister, Paulo Guedes, has slammed the country's current rules on granting rights for energy resources as "awful" and called for a simple concession model.
