The Man Who Will Decide Brazil’s Fate Wants Something in Return

In the 19 months since a sprawling corruption scandal broke out at Brazil’s state-run oil giant, many people have come to represent the crisis through its twists and turns. President Dilma Rousseff, of course, has played that role for much of that time, but so have lesser-known types like a money-laundering kingpin and a crusading federal judge.

Now, it is Eduardo Cunha’s turn.

No one right now is more important in Brazil than the 57-year-old lawmaker. As head of the lower house, he alone has the power to trigger — or squelch — impeachment proceedings against the beleaguered Rousseff. Eleven separate ouster requests sit on his desk. But Cunha, it turns out, is a man with a checkered history in this saga too, adding an element that both accentuates his role as the current face of the scandal and, more importantly, scuttles any chance for a quick resolution. Having become a target in the graft probe himself, Cunha worries, according to a person who met with him recently, that he will be driven out of office the moment he agrees to initiate the case against Rousseff.

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