Brazil’s first impeached president: “I see the same situation happening now”

A retelling of the history of Brazilian politics would be incomplete without the name Fernando Collor de Mello. In 1990, at age 40, he was sworn in as the country’s first democratically elected president after 21 years of military dictatorship. Two years later, he also became the first Brazilian head of state to be impeached, following mounting corruption allegations. 

But the story of the Collor de Mello clan does not start with Fernando. His grandfather Lindolfo Collor was a key member of the 1930 coup d’état that consolidated Getulio Vargas’ grip on power,...