Brazil’s second high-profile arrest in 24 hours of a ruling party member and allies renews pressure on President Dilma Rousseff and risks sidetracking her economic agenda just as she began to recover some support in Congress.
Police on Wednesday arrested the government’s leader in the Senate, Delcidio Amaral, and billionaire banker Andre Esteves on accusations they interfered with investigations into the scheme of kickbacks at state-owned oil company Petrobras. On Tuesday police arrested Jose Carlos Bumlai, a close business associate of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for allegedly brokering fraudulent government contracts.
The latest round of high-profile arrests are a setback for Rousseff’s attempts to push economic recovery measures in Congress and to fight off opposition attempts to oust her from office, said Andre Cesar, a Brasilia-based political analyst. Amaral, whose spokesman said the senator’s arrest must be a “big mistake,” was one of the government’s most senior legislators and had been actively involved in negotiating the government’s proposed tax increases and spending cuts in Congress.
Brazil Energy Insight 
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