From: rma4u@galen.med.Virginia.EDU (Renan Moritz Almeida)
Subject: noticia/UPI
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 20:48:44 GMT

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Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.group
Subject: Trouble mounts for Collor
Note: (complete writethru -- pressure mounts against collor;
clarifies report
 to be released monday)

     RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (UPI) -- Allegations against
President Fernando
Collor de Mello were mounting Saturday as the day of reckoning
neared
for the president accused of profiting from a lucrative
corruption
scandal.
     And the number of parliamentarians prepared to vote in favor
of
impeachment appeared to grow in advance of the release Monday of
a
parliamentary report on the allegations, according to Brazilian
news
reports.
     Collor is accused of accepting multi-million dollar bribes
from his
former campaign manager, Paulo Cesar Farias.
     The crisis deepened for Collor Friday night when members of
the
parliamentary investigatory commission said some unidentified
people
close to him had received confidential information which allowed
them to
withdraw large sums of money from banks the day before Collor
froze
funds.
     Collor froze accounts totalling $150 billion the day after
taking
power in March 1990 in a bid to overcome the country's financial
problems.
     ``This is the end of the world,'' said Senator Alexandre
Costa. ``If
its true, it is very serious.''
     Costa added legislators from the pro-Collor Liberal Front
Party said
they would ``vote with their consciences,'' taken to mean more
lawmakers
had decided to go against Collor.
     Collor's wife Rosane also entered the picture Saturday when
police
announced they planned an investigation of her personal secretary
Maria
Izabe Teixeira, whom police accused of taking administration
funds.
     Presidential spokesman Etevaldo Dias said Collor will
address the
nation ``at an opportune moment'' to answer the report's
findings.
     Many government ministers have threatened to resign over the
scandal
which has shaken Brazil for weeks.
     Science and Technology Minister Helio Jaguaribe,
acknowledged he felt
``ashamed'' he was still in his post, and said he would decide
whether
to resign Monday, after the parliamentary investigating committee
releases its report. Initially the report was to be released
Saturday,
but the distribution was postponed until after the weekend.
     Foreign Minister Celso Lafer and Cultural Minister Sergio
Paulo
Rouanet agreed to stay on temporarily, at the request of Economy
Minister Marcilio Marques Moreira.
     Marques Moriera, worried that a rash of resignations might
threaten
the stability of the government, asked Lafer and Rouanet to stay
put
until Congress decides whether to open impeachment proceedings
against
Collor.
     Congress is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the findings of
the three-
month investigation and to decide whether the evidence merits
impeachment proceedings.
     Meanwhile, opposition leaders, fearful of the harmful
effects a long
impeachment trial might have on Brazil, are attempting to
negotiate
Collor's resignation.
     Thousands of people took to the streets of Rio Friday
sporting
painted faces and black mourning clothes to demand Collor resign
or face
congressional impeachment for corruption.
     Under Brazil's constitution, Vice President Itamar Franco
would take
over if Collor resigns or is impeached.
     Brazil has been under civilian control since 1984, when it
shrugged
off nearly two decades of military rule.


Newsgroups: soc.culture.brazil