Less than three months after leaving the president’s office, Michel Temer found himself being pulled up by federal marshals and placed under arrest. When the news broke, the sparse details given by law enforcement made it difficult to know exactly what motivated the arrest. Not because Mr. Temer is an example of honesty, rather due to the sheer number of criminal investigations against him. Mr. Temer is targeted by ten inquiries, all investigating corruption-related crimes—it was difficult to know exactly which accusation he was being arrested for.
Besides the former president, the Federal Police also arrested Mr. Temer’s former Minister of Mines and Energy, Wellington Moreira Franco. The pair were among the top brass of what was the most powerful political party in post-dictatorship Brazil, at least until the 2018 election: the Brazilian Democratic Movement party, or MDB.
The MDB is the party with the largest amount of municipal chapters, which gives it unparalleled reach and helps explain why the group controls so many local mayorships—1,028 out of 5,570 nationwide. Governability has always passed through the MDB party; no Brazilian president to date has been able to effectively govern without their support. Fernando Collor and Dilma Rousseff tried to buck the trend and ended up impeached. Lula also tried for a while—but had to bribe Congress to assemble a majority, which nearly cost him his term. Jair Bolsonaro has not done many favors...
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