Meu artigo de sexta-feira no The Guardian:

Protesters outside the Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia on 17 March. Photograph: Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images (The Guardian)

Federal judge Sérgio Moro has become the high-profile face of the campaign to impeach Dilma Rousseff. But is he overstepping the mark?

Brazil is suffering from convulsions. At first it was one a week, then one every day. Then everything began to change by the hour.

On Thursday 17 March, Brazilians tuned in to watch as former president Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva was sworn in as a cabinet minister. Then they went to use the toilet or get a drink, and by the time they came back his appointment had already been blocked by a judge.

It is possible that by the time you read this article Brazil will have experienced further convulsions and what happened on Thursday will already be a distant memory. The reason for this is that Brazil is currently fighting fire with fire. The firefighters pretend not to realise that if the country goes up in flames once and for all, everyone will get burned.

Brazil is a country in uproar. The demonstrators in favour of the impeachment of the president are in uproar. The demonstrators opposed to her impeachment are in uproar. Both sides are in uproar against those who refuse to side one way or the other.

The politicians suspected of corruption are in uproar, accusing other people of being the thieves. And vice versa. A sector of the media has stopped asking questions in favour of roaring foregone conclusions.

It is like being trapped in a recurring nightmare. Just when you think that the country has reached rock bottom, it sinks to a whole new level. And from there it goes on to plummet even greater depths.

In the face of the current crisis, which is not only political and economic but also one of identity, the worst thing that could happen to Brazil would be to turn back the clock; instead of tackling its chronic defects in order to build a future, recreating the nation’s past in its own image and likeness. The risk of this happening has looked ever more likely in recent days. And given the loss of faith in politicians and traditional political parties, dogged by charges of corruption, the judiciary has been filling the political void.

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