From: mariof@sco.COM (Mario Faria)
Subject: news from Brazil
Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
Date: Thu, 03 Sep 1992 21:05:04 GMT




Message posted as they were retrieved from Compuserve News Service

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Brazilian president admits "errors," vows to fight impeachment
   BRASILIA, Brazil (UPI) -- Embattled Brazilian President Fernando
Collor de Mello admitted to committing "errors" in response to
corruption charges but said he never knowingly engaged in wrongdoing and
would fight impeachment.
   In a 20-minute speech broadcast Sunday on radio and television,
Collor said "there was no deceit or bad intentions" in the "errors"
he committed, but rather his mistakes were in trusting people "who
showed they did not deserve that trust."
   Collor was accused in a parliamentary report last week of accepting
millions of dollars in bribes through a scheme allegedly run by his 1989
campaign treasurer. A formal request for his impeachment is expected
Tuesday.
   The increasingly isolated president won a six-year term in 1989 as
the anti-corruption candidate and said Sunday that his conscience is
clean and that he intends to complete his mandate.
   "They are fooled, those who believe they are going to annul the
mandate of the president," Collor told Brazilians at the end of the
taped speech.
   A recent poll of parliamentary deputies showed 333 in favor of
impeachment, 34 against and 136 undecided. At least 336 votes are needed
for impeachment.
   Tens of thousands demonstrated against Collor in major Brazilian
cities last week and an opinion poll in the wealthy state of Sao Paulo
showed 84 percent of the people there want him out.
   In his address broadcast nationally late Sunday, Collor accused the
Congress of wanting to force him from office because of its opposition
to his economic modernization plan.
   The Legislature, he said, is hastily moving to impeach him in a
matter of just 10 days, while it took them more than a year to consider
and vote down several of his economic programs. Collor said he would win
the congressional fight to remove him from office.
   Collor, however, reportedly faces the defection of some key cabinet
ministers who have pledged to abandon the administration in an effort to
force his resignation if he insists on remaining in power.
   The Jornal do Brasil quoted an unidentified Cabinet minister Sunday
as saying members of the so-called "ethical" group of ministers would
resign "at the right moment" to force Collor's hand if he tries to
remain in office.
   Cabinet members preparing to resign include Justice Minister Celio
Borja, Economy Minister Marcilio Marques Moreira and Foreign Minister
Celso Lafer, the newspaper said.
   Federal police were also preparing to issue criminal charges against
Collor, probably Wednesday, said a legislator who asked that his name
not be used.
   Criminal charges against a sitting president would be tried before
Brazil's Supreme Court.

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COLLOR BEGINS LONELY FIGHT TO CLING TO POWER
    BRASILIA, Brazil, Sept 2, Reuter - President Fernando Collor
de Mello swung into battle on Wednesday to fight off a
congressional impeachment bid but a collapse in public and
political support suggested that he might already be too late.
    Congressional investigators have accused Collor, 43, of
pocketing millions of dollars from a huge corruption racket run
by his election campaign treasurer, Paulo Cesar Farias.
    Congress began on Tuesday studying a formal request for the
president's removal and will vote, probably at the end of this
month, on whether to suspend Collor while the Senate holds full
impeachment hearings.
    A presidential spokesman said Collor was personally
telephoning dozens of congressmen to win their support. "It's
now a political game," he added.
    Collor cancelled meetings with ministers, spent the morning
at home and had no public appearances scheduled on Wednesday.
    The president began his life-or-death fight at a
disadvantage. Fifty-nine per cent of Brazilians are so angry
about tales of dirty deals in high places that they want Collor
to resign now, according to a survey by the country's biggest
pollster, IBOPE.
    A separate poll by the Correio Braziliense newspaper found
that 80 per cent of respondents were not convinced by the
televised defence Collor gave last Sunday, when he denied the
charges against him.
    In Congress too, the situation looked grim. Collor has
already lost the government leader in the Senate, Marco Maciel,
and his chief political strategist, Jorge Bornhausen.
    Both men resigned on Tuesday, saying they had been placed in
an impossible position. Newspapers reported they had privately
told Collor that his position was hopeless and urged him to
resign.
    Economy Minister Marcilio Marques Moreira, seen as a key
figure in Brazil's recent economic successes, plans to offer his
resignation whether or not Congress votes to impeach Collor, the
newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo reported.
    Moreira, 60, the most respected figure in the embattled
government, presided over the renegotiation of Brazil's foreign
debt and the start of a big privatisation programme.
    Roseana Sarney, daughter of ex-president Jose Sarney, said
on Wednesday that the opposition now had the two-thirds majority
they needed to impeach Collor.
    "I am sure that they have the two-thirds," she said on
television. Newspapers have run tallies which reach the same
conclusion.
    Collor has rejected all calls for him to bow out gracefully,
boasting that he "is not one to run away from a fight."
    With most of the cabinet staying strictly neutral, the
president's defence is now in the hands of a small inner circle
of trusted confidantes led by Social Action Minister Ricardo
Fiuza. Newspapers have derided the band as as "riot police"
and a "death squad."
    Police are investigating the corruption scandal and
allegations that Collor's young wife Rosane embezzled thousands
of dollars during her time at the helm of a national welfare
charity.
    A judge in Brasilia has ordered Rosane to pay back $25,000
of government money she used for a lavish birthday banquet for a
friend.

---------------------

BRAZIL ECONOMY MINISTER TO TENDER RESIGNATION
    By Katherine Molinski
    SAO PAULO, Sept 2, Reuter - Brazil's respected Economy
Minister Marcilio Marques Moreira will offer his resignation
along with the rest of the cabinet after a presidential
impeachment vote by the lower house of Congress expected later
this month, a spokesman for the minister said on Wednesday.
    The news, reported by newspapers on Wednesday and confirmed
by Moreira's spokesman Fernando Martins, came as Congress
prepared to set up a commission to study a formal request to
impeach President Fernando Collor de Mello.
    Martins left open the question of whether Moreira might
return to government after what is expected to be a long and
complicated impeachment process, or whether he would stay in the
government if asked.
    Asked if Moreira might accept returning to the ministry
after tendering his resignation, Martins said: "That is a very
complicated question. It is impossible for anyone to say."
    Moreira has become a symbol of Brazil's economic reforms in
the last year, presiding over renegotiation of the foreign debt
and the start of an ambitious privatisation programme.
    Seen as the most influential figure in Collor's weakened
government, Moreira's moves have been watched closely by the
business and political communities.
    In a telephone interview, Martins confirmed that Moreira had
tied his plans to the lower house vote.
    "That is true. As soon as the Camara (lower house) votes,
the minister will turn a letter of resignation into the
president," he said. He said the rest of the cabinet would also
tender their resignations with Moreira.
    Martins said he did not know if Moreira would accept a post
under Itamar Franco, Brazil's current vice president who would
become president if Collor were forced out of office.
    Collor, 43, has been accused by a congressional
investigation of pocketing millions of dollars through a vast
corruption scheme operated by a close friend and former aide
Paulo Cesar Farias.
    Brazilian police investigating the corruption scandal asked
a judge on Wednesday to issue arrest warrants for Farias and
Collor's former private secretary, the Bandeirantes television
channel said.
    Ibsen Pinheiros, president of the lower chamber of Congress,
said earlier he expected the lower chamber to vote on the
impeachment by the end of the month.
    If two thirds of the 503 deputies approve the impeachment,
Collor would be forced to take a leave of abscence for 180 days
while the Senate held full impeachment hearings.
    Last week, Moreira, along with other cabinet members, signed
a document promising not to quit until the corruption crisis
plaguing Collor reached a "constitutional" resolution.

--------------------

BRAZIL POLICE REQUEST ARREST OF TWO FORMER COLLOR AIDES
    By Michael Stott
    BRASILIA, Brazil, Sept 2, Reuter - Brazilian police asked on
Wednesday for the arrest of two former aides of President
Fernando Collor de Mello, alleging that they were obstructing an
investigation into government corruption, a court official said.
    The official, who asked not to be identified, confirmed
reports that police had asked a judge in Brasilia to authorise
the arrest of Collor's former private secretary, Claudio Vieira,
and election campaign treasurer Paulo Cesar Farias.
    The judge would probably decide whether to grant the request
on Thursday, she added.
    The two men are accused of having key roles in a vast
corruption scandal which has shaken the Collor government to its
foundations. Collor himself faces impeachment proceedings in
Congress on corruption charges.
    A spokesman at the presidential palace said it was official
policy not to comment on matters involving the police or the
justice authorities.
    "There is no reason for us to comment," he said, noting
that Vieira had resigned from his post in April and that Farias
was not a member of the government.
    Television reports said police had evidence Vieira and
Farias had tried to intimidate witnesses in the investigation.
    Detectives are probing allegations that Farias ran a vast
influence-peddling racket and passed some of the proceeds to
Collor via bank accounts controlled by Vieira.
    Farias denied he had obstructed the course of justice. He
told television reporters in Sao Paulo that he was calm and had
nothing to fear.
    "We did everything possible to allow all our employees to
testify," he said. "We even had our planes grounded so that
pilots could testify."

-------------

ROSANE IS COLLOR'S SCANDAL-PLAGUED OTHER HALF
    By Tova Chapoval
    RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 30, Reuter - Like President Fernando
Collor de Mello, Brazil's First Lady, Rosane, exuded youth and
optimism when they moved into the presidential palace two and a
half years ago.
    But both have seen their names tarnished in a series of
corruption scandals.
    Both now face ignominious ends.
    Collor faces impeachment and possible criminal proceedings
on charges he and his family profited from a multi-million
dollar corruption scheme run by friends.
    His blonde, gap-toothed, 28-year-old wife, with a fetish for
designer clothes and lavish shopping trips abroad, is being
investigated for embezzlement of charity funds, police say.
    One of the favourite chants of the thousands of anti-Collor
demonstrators who packed Brazil's cities this week has been:
"Lady Rosane/How ugly you are/Off to jail with you and
Collor."
    Collor took office in March 1990 at the age of 40, Brazil's
youngest president. While he was campaigning, his wife, who
comes from the backward and poverty-stricken interior of the
poor northeastern state of Alagoas, was still a student.
    Karate black belt Collor is a sports enthusiast who spends
Sundays jogging in Brasilia. His plump wife soon slimmed down
when she started bicycling to keep up.
    Rosane accompanied her husband on all his trips abroad but
was berated by the press for her expensive shopping sprees after
she spent thousands of dollars on clothes and perfume.
    But it was at the helm of a national welfare charity, the
LBA, that the First Lady's real troubles began.
    Rosane's name hit the headlines last year when newspapers
reported she had spent $16,700 of charity money on a lavish
birthday banquet for a personal friend and diverted thousands
more to her family and associates.
    The reports provoked marital problems, as Collor tried to
force his wife to step down and she refused. After she quit the
charity in August 1991, however, the couple reconciled.
    Police, however, are still investigating. Helio Mota, chief
of federal police in Alagoas, where Collor began his political
career, said at least $500,000 of LBA money appeared to have
been embezzled during Rosane's tenure.
    "We are investigating the probable participation of Lady
Rosane on the diversion of LBA funds," he told Reuters.
    Earlier this week, a federal judge ordered Rosane to return
the equivalent of $25,000 in state money she allegedly used to
throw a luxurious party for another friend at the presidential
residence.
    Judge Vilanova da Silva Reis said the use of public funds
for the party -- which included a huge floating floral
arrangement, the contracting of a popular concert pianist and
vast amounts of food and drink -- "offended the principles of
moral administration."
    Rosane is Collor's second wife. Collor had two sons by his
first wife, but the couple split in 1981. Three years later he
married Rosane.
    Rosane's family has been a source of deep embarrassment for
Collor. Her brother, Joao Malta Brandao Filho, was charged with
attempted murder last year after firing shots at the mayor of
Canapi, the Malta's hometown, in a bar room brawl.

------------------------

MOREIRA'S FUTURE UNCERTAIN AS BRAZIL CRISIS COMES TO A HEAD
    By Adrian Dickson
    SAO PAULO, Brazil, Aug 30, Reuter - Brazilian Economy
Minister Marcilio Marques Moreira's place in President Fernando
Collor de Mello's Cabinet looked increasingly in question on
Sunday after Collor indicated he had no intention of giving up
the presidency without a bitter fight.
    The embattled Collor is expected to try to stay in office in
the face of possible impeachment and despite calls from both
friends and foes that he should resign because of a corruption
scandal.
    Such a determination could leave little room for the
respected Moreira in the Cabinet since over the past week the
minister has subtly indicated that Collor would do both the
country and himself a service if he stepped down.
    The daily Jornal do Brasil has quoted unnamed members of
Moreira's staff as saying they saw the president and the
minister going different ways in the near future.
    If Collor insists on staying in office he is likely to adopt
measures to stimulate the economy in an effort to increase his
popularity, the officials said, adding that Moreira, 60, would
resign rather than adopt measures that could be inflationary.
    Moriera and his team have insisted on maintaining a tight
monetary policy and a close hand on fiscal spending in an effort
to control Brazil's chronic inflation, currently around 22
percent a month. This policy has made him unpopular with some
Brazilian business leaders, many of whom were forced to close
factories or lay off thousands of employees to survive a two
year-long recession.
    But the loss of Moreira would be a serious blow to the
government's image abroad. As one of the architects of the
Brazil's agreement in July to reshedule $44 billion of
commercial debt, Moreira is seen as a guarantee that the country
will respect its foreign debt commitments.
    Until now Moreira has acted as a moderating influence in the
Collor government.
    This month business leaders praised his ability to hold the
economic team together, including Central Bank President
Francisco Gros, when Collor agreed to increase government
spending in exchange for greater support in Congress.
    Government sources say that Moreira played a a key role in
the design of a statement signed by all the Cabinet last week in
which the ministers promised not to resign until the political
crisis reached a constitutional solution.
    Indeed, financial markets were bullish last week when Vice
President Itamar Franco let it be known that he might hold on to
Moreira if he were called to replace Collor, as a way of
signalling his desire to give continuity to economic policy.

-----------------

    By Katherine Molinski
    SAO PAULO, Brazil, Aug 31, Reuter - Three cabinet ministers
are dissatisfied with President Fernando Collor de Mello's
speech rejecting corruption charges and may quit the embattled
government, newspapers said on Monday.
    In a televised address on Sunday, Collor angrily rejected
charges he profited from a corruption racket and said he was
sure of defeating any impeachment request against him.
    "I will only consider my mission ended, I will only
consider my programme finished, after having (the economic
reform) projects approved," Collor said, vowing not to resign.
    Newspapers reported, however, the three officials -- Economy
Minister Marcilio Marques Moreira, Justice Minister Celio Borja
and Secretary of the Government Jorge Bornhausen -- would meet
on Monday to decide whether to resign.
    A presidential spokesman said he was not aware of any
meeting of the ministers, although the meeting has been included
in the official government news agency's agenda for Monday.
    Brazil stock markets reacted negatively to Collor's speech
saying he would not resign. The Sao Paulo stock exchange dropped
by 4.6 per cent on the open, while Rio de Janeiro's stock market
dropped 6.9 per cent, traders said.
    The 43-year-old president has been urged to cut his mandate
short to avoid subjecting the nation to a possibly prolonged
impeachment process.
    In the 20-minute speech Collor said he was "opening his
heart to the nation to analyse the political moment and offer
all the necessary explanations."
    He rejected charges by a congressional panel that he had
profited from an influence peddling ring run by his close friend
and former campaign manager Paulo Cesar Farias.
    He denied that Farias had paid for building modifications to
his apartment in his home town of Maceio.
    He said he had paid himself for extensive modifications to
his residence in Brasilia -- estimated at over $1 million -- and
for a new Fiat Elba car, both expenditures the congressional
panel said had been financed by Farias.
    The president did not however provide any documents or
evidence to support his claims.
    Collor bitterly attacked his rivals in Congress and berated
them for having blocked his economic reform programme.
    "What are the real aims of my adversaries? They are trying
in just 10 days to sabotage the mandate of the president of the
Republic which carries the legitimacy of the popular vote."
    Pro-government congressmen will evaluate if the president's
speech was strong enough to turn the tide against him in the
lower house where he needs the votes of 168 legislators to block
any impeachment request.
    At last count, Brazilian newspapers only registered 33 votes
in Collor's favour, and 337 against. They said 133 congressmen
remained undecided.
    Collor was elected president of the world's sixth largest
country in December 1989, in Brazil's first direct presidential
election in 29 years. He promised to wipe out four-digit
inflation and immediately froze more than $100 billion in bank
accounts, disrupting lives and temporarily stopping industry.
    He has been under fire throughout his term and earlier this
month Brazilians took to the streets in a wave of protests, many
wearing black as a symbol of mourning for their country.

---------------

By PETER MUELLO
 Associated Press Writer
   RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- When Vice President Itamar Franco
hired a press secretary some months ago, Brazilian comics had a
field day. What, they asked, could the lackluster No. 2 man have to
say?
   Today, as his boss President Fernando Collor de Mello faces
possible impeachment for corruption, the man who would replace him
suddenly is in the spotlight.
   "Please, I'm only -- only -- the vice president," he pleaded to
a crowd of reporters during a recent visit to Rio.
   The low-key Franco couldn't be more different from the
flamboyant Collor.
   However, on the rare occasions he has spoken out, Franco has
expressed strong opinions. And he has an often prickly personality
that has led to run-ins with presidential advisers.
   Franco's supporters say he is an adroit and dedicated politician
whose abilities are not always recognized.
   "The vice president has conducted himself with great discretion
and ability," said former Finance Minister Luiz Carlos Bresser
Pereira. "He is a serious, mature and experienced politician."
   It was considered a coup for the Collor camp when Franco, 61,
joined the ticket in the 1989 election, the first direct balloting
for president in 29 years.
   A respected former mayor and two-term senator from the
influential state of Minas Gerais, Franco brought prestige and
political weight to the little-known candidate.
   Within months, Collor shot from 2 percent in the polls to 44
percent and the lead. In the runoff, he beat socialist Luis Inacio
Lula da Silva by a margin of 4 million votes.
   But in office, Collor was a one-man show. Franco not even
consulted on important decisions.
   Campaign workers recalled Franco as moody and irritable.
Sometimes he simply failed to show up for official ceremonies
without explanation.
   "From the vice president, one should expect loyalty, solidarity
and discretion," Franco said.
   Still, he resented his ostracism, and showed it by breaking with
the party line more than once.
   Franco was an early critic of the government's recessive
economic policy and its refusal to raise retirement pensions.
   As the government prepared to kick off a privatization campaign
last year with the sale of the state-run Usiminas steel mill,
Franco openly criticized the idea.
   When Collor was out of the country, Justice Minister Jarbas
Passarinho called a cabinet meeting without consulting the acting
president. A furious Franco nearly fired the minister, relenting
only at the last minute. The press ate it up.
   "Either the vice president is criticized for being omissive,
for doing nothing, or he's criticized because he wants to air his
ideas," Franco complained.
   In May, he quit the president's National Reconstruction Party.
Days later, a scandal exploded with revelations of a slush fund run
by former campaign treasurer Paulo Cesar Farias.
   Franco's relations with the president hit bottom in June when he
discovered his past was being investigated, apparently to give
Collor ammunition to stay in office. He called the investigators
"bums."
   However, no one has questioned his personal integrity.
   "He is extremely honest," said Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns of
Sao Paulo. "And he was excellent as mayor and in Congress."
   Some question Franco's commitment to modernization, recalling
his opposition to the Usiminas sale. His critics say his ideas date
to the 1930s, when a state-run economy was popular.
   Franco's main problem as president could be the hostility of the
powerful Liberal Front Party. The party's president, Antonio Carlos
Magalhaes, has said a Franco government lacks "legitimacy."
   But other political, business and labor leaders promise a
six-month "honeymoon" for Franco, who would depend heavily on
support from Congress.
   "No one will be opposition, and no one will be government,"
said Orestes Quercia, president of the Brazilian Democratic
Movement Party, the largest in Congress.
   
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By KEN SILVERSTEIN
 Associated Press Writer
   RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- Giant floats drift down main
street under a shower of confetti thrown from office windows.
Thousands of marchers, many wearing costumes or masks, sing and
dance to music blaring from a sound truck.
   Though it looks like Carnival, this is political protest.
   The marchers demand the impeachment of Brazilian President
Fernando Collor de Mello, who is accused of receiving millions of
dollars from a slush fund set up by his 1989 campaign treasurer.
   More than a million people marched against Collor last week, and
every day, newspapers list the sites of new demonstrations. Major
protests are planned for Monday, Brazilian Independence Day.
   The rallies have been marked by Brazil's traditional irreverence
and exuberance.
   In Rio, during a march of tens of thousands late last month, one
man wore only underwear and carried a sign reading "I believed in
him, I voted for him and I ended up like this."
   Once set of marchers, the grotesquely masked "Presidential
Palace Rats", represented the president and other key figures in
the scandal.
   Among the crowd at one recent rally was Edna Dantas, a
middle-aged Rio housewife smeared with green and yellow face paint
-- the national colors.
   She jumped wildly up and down and screamed mostly unpublishable
chants against the president.
   "Collor has humiliated the country," said Mrs. Dantas, proudly
announcing it was her first political rally at the age of 46.
"It's time to say enough."
   The scandal surrounding Collor, elected in 1989 on a clean
government platform, has inspired the largest demonstrations here
since the mid-1980s, when the country was ruled by a military
dictatorship.
   The protests have played a crucial role in pressuring scores of
wavering legislators to abandon the president.
   A congressional panel on Tuesday recommended that Collor,
Brazil's first freely-elected president in 29 years, be indicted on
charges including corruption, tax evasion and criminal association.
   The attorney general and Congress now must decide whether to
proceed against Collor. The Chamber of Deputies is expected to vote
later this month, and unofficial counts show 339 of 503 legislators
favor impeachment -- three more than required.
   The scandal exploded in May, when the president's brother, Pedro
Collor, made the original charges against him.
   The street protest movement was slow to begin.
   Then, late last month, Collor angrily attacked his critics and
urged Brazilians to wear yellow and green on Aug. 24, to show their
support for his government.
   Many were outraged, believing Collor was cynically wrapping
himself in the flag to cover up wrongdoing.
   "I was so angry that I rushed to ring up friends and ask them
to wear black instead," Elaine Caruso, wife of a prominent local
cartoonist, said in a published interview. "I spent two hours on
the phone."
   Caruso's action was part of a spontaneous movement that swept
this vast nation.
   On Aug. 24, hundreds of thousands of black-clad protestors
marched nationwide, demanding that Collor step down.
   The biggest rally, which drew upwards of 100,000 people, was
held in Brasilia, where a eight-mile long motorcade jammed city
streets.
   The only pro-Collor demonstration drew just 300 people to the
president's Brasilia mansion.
   The anti-Collor demonstrations, largely organized by independent
groups, have united businessmen marching in suits and ties with
teenagers in jeans and T-shirts.
   At the forefront of the parades have been students, who for the
first time since the 1964-1985 dictatorship are playing a leading
political role.
   "Everyone's in the same boat -- those who still admire Che
Guevara and those that hang out at shopping malls," said Lindberg
Farias Filho, 22, president of the National Union of Students,
which has organized many of the protests.
   At the Rio march last month, street vendor Carlos Ferrer sold
T-shirts bearing the words: "I believe in the president. And in
elves, Santa Claus and virginity."
   In Maceio, capital of Collor's home state of Alagoas on the
northeastern Atlantic coast, 40,000 people marched alongside an
enormous effigy of Collor dressed in a black-and-white striped
prison outfit.
   In Fortaleza, further north up the coast, dozens of protestors
have brought dogs to the rallies, with cardboard collars reading
"Scat Collor."
   "He's got to go," Marcio Rojo, a Rio artist said at a recent
demonstration. "I'll be out on the streets until we force him
out."
   
-----------------

Brazilan stock markets dive in deepening political crisis
   BRASILIA, Brazil (UPI) -- The indexes of the Rio de Janeiro and Sao
Paulo stock markets plummeted as beleaguered President Fernando Collor
de Mello continued to lose congressional support on the eve of probable
impeachment proceedings.
   The Rio de Janeiro index fell at least 5.6 percent and the Sao Paulo
index plunged 6.7 percent in trading Monday.
   But the U.S. dollar and gold, traditional havens for panicking
investors, remained stable. One dollar sold for 5,700 cruzeiros Monday,
up from 5,660 cruzeiros on Friday, while an ounce of gold sold for 61,
800 cruzeiros, up slightly from 60,400.
   Financial analysts blamed the falling stock indexes on press reports
that Collor's political position was growing more serious as his cabinet
ministers debated possible resignations.
   By late afternoon, however, government sources said the three most
important cabinet ministers, the minister of government, economy and
justice, had decided to remain in their posts.
   The market losses put an end to five consecutive days of boom
trading, fueled by last week's announcement the cabinet ministers would
not resign.
   Meanwhile, Collor's support in Congress continued to dwindle as
government sources confirmed the apparent resignation of Sen. Marco
Maciel from his position as the ranking legislator of the largest pro-
government party.
   Collor's legislative support is critical if opponents follow through
on plans to present an impeachment plea Tuesday.
   The lower parliamentary house needs a two-thirds majority to begin a
formal impeachment trial, and both government allies and foes claim to
have the necessary votes to block or go forward with the plea.
   Maciel, however, refused to confirm or deny his resignation late
Monday, saying he preferred to meet with Collor and leaders of his
Liberal Front Party first.
   On Sunday, Collor vowed to hold onto power in spite of opposition in
Congress and pleas from thousands of Brazilians in massive street
protests that he resign or face impeachment proceedings on charges of
corruption.
   The 43-year-old president denied the corruption charges Sunday,
saying he had committed "errors" in his 2 1/2 years in office, but that
he would fight an impeachment hearing in congress "vote for vote."
   For the first time since the crisis exploded in late May, however,
Collor did not say he would complete his five-year term to the last day.
Brazilian media said the change may indicate Collor hopes to negotiate
his resignation.
   The media and lawmakers continued to speculate Monday on how long
Collor could hold onto power in the face of mounting pressure for his
resignation.
   The newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest-circulation daily,
predicted Collor would lose the support of the Liberal Front Party this
week, citing unnamed leaders of the party.
   Lawmakers warned both Senate President Mauro Benevides and Chamber of
Deputies President Ibsen Pinheiro planned to respond to Collor's
criticisms of the legislature.
   In his speech Sunday, Collor accused congress of trying to impeach
him in 10 days when the legislature had not been able to approve a bill
to modernize ports in 558 days or approve legislation to protect
intellectual property in 447 days.
   The president, denying corruption charges, said the real reason
Congress was trying to impeach him was to stop his project to transform
the traditionally statist Brazilian economy into a free-market system.
   Collor admitted he had erred in confiding "in people who later
showed they did not deserve trust."
   Brazilian Press Association President Barbosa Lima Sobrinho, 95, is
slated to present the formal request for Collor's impeachment to
Congress on Tuesday.
   The impeachment request, written by a team of 12 lawyers, is based on
the final report of a special legislative committee accusing Collor of
earning $23 million from an elaborate extortion and embezzlement scheme
allegedly run $y the president's former campaign treasurer, Paulo Cesar
Farias.
   If two thirds of the 503 members of the congressional lower house
approve of the impeachment request, Collor would have to step down for
six months while the Senate decided whether to make the removal
permanent.
   Vice President Itamar Franco would take over during the interim and
complete the current presidential term, which ends in December of 1994,
if Collor were impeached.
   Franco, commenting for the first time on the possibility, said "I
never imagined I would ascend to the presidency through the impeachment
of the president."
   "But if that happens, which I do not desire, the constitution is
clear. It must be complied with, and Brazil will move toward democratic
normality," Franco said.
   
---------------

By KEN SILVERSTEIN
 Associated Press Writer
   RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- President Fernando Collor de Mello
has launched a political counterattack to fight off impeachment and
persuade Brazilians he's in charge and on the ball.
   But some critics contend their leader is off his rocker -- or
simply mesmerized by power.
   "I appeal to (Collor's) mother to help save Brazil by having a
medical team declare her son insane," Herbert de Souza, one of the
country's top sociologists, said Monday. "That way, impeachment
won't be necessary."
   Luis Alberto Py, president of the Psychiatric Association of Rio
de Janeiro, said Collor was suffering from the "pathology of the
powerful."
   "He has enormous difficulties in listening to the opinion of
others, and believes he's always right," Py said.
   The Brazilian Bar Association was scheduled today to submit a
request for impeachment to the Chamber of Deputies based a
congressional report charging that Collor received $6.5 million
from a corrupt businessmen.
   If approved by two-thirds of the Chamber's 503 members, Collor
will be suspended from office for 180 days while the Senate holds a
trial to determine whether to remove him permanently.
   His replacement would be Vice President Itamar Franco.
   No definitive medical profile on Collor has been made public,
and it's difficult to say how seriously anyone regards the talk
about Collor's mental health. But criticism mounts with each
disclosure of unusual behavior: retreating from public life and
consulting numerologists and spiritualists.
   Speculation about the president's mental stability increased
after he addressed the nation late Sunday to deny the charges and
defy growing public pressure that he step down.
   "He needs a straight jacket at this point," said Rene
Dreifuss, a prominent political scientist at Rio's Federal
Fluminense University. "It's clear we have a loon installed in the
presidency."
   Dreifuss fears Collor's attitude could cause the military --
which ruled from 1964 to 1985 -- to force the president out.
   Roman Catholic Bishop Mauro Morelli, who heads a diocese in a
poor town near Rio, was shocked that Collor is clinging to office.
   "With so many delusions, I would prefer to doubt his mental
sanity," he said. "I can't believe a sane person could be so
cynical."
   Since the crisis erupted in May, Collor has withdrawn into an
inner shell, no longer reading the newspaper and maintaining
regular contact with only a few loyal aides.
   He blames his political problems on a mysterious "coup
syndicate" allegedly headed by his enemies. But it was his
brother, Pedro Collor, who made the original charges against him.
   Always a superstitious man, Collor reportedly has taken to
consulting with numerologists, seers and "high priests" in the
candomble religion, an African-based animist cult popular in
Brazil.
   Several cartoons recently published in major newspapers showed
Collor locked in his office, surrounded by bloody chicken heads,
candles, fruits and others "offerings" to candomble gods.
   Collor consulted a numerologist earlier this year, and changed
the way he signs his name. He reportedly did it to change his luck.
   In a weekend column written for Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil's
biggest daily, businessman Ricardo Semler said he was convinced
there was something "seriously wrong" with Collor's mental state.
   "Whether it's new or not, I don't know, but it's clear he needs
to be treated with great caution," Semler wrote. "He's not living
in (a state of) normality, and no one can know what he's capable
of."
   
------------------

COLLOR SHRUGS OFF CORRUPTION REPORT
    By Michael Stott
    BRASILIA, Brazil, Aug 25, Reuter - Brazilian President
Fernando Collor de Mello, facing huge demonstrations demanding
his resignation, said on Tuesday night neither he nor Brazil's
democracy were threatened by a report saying he pocketed
millions from corruption.
    "Everything is going on as normal. There is no reason to be
worried," the Brazilian president said in an interview given to
a television station in neighbouring Argentina.
    Collor spoke from Brasilia, the Brazilian capital, in a
satellite interview on an Argentine talk show. It was his first
public statement since a draft version of the congressional
report was read to shocked Brazilians on Monday.
    Collor, 43, had spent most of the day closeted in the
presidential palace while hundreds of thousands of banner-waving
marchers demanded that he step down.
    Earlier in the day, huge demonstrations rocked the country's
biggest city, Sao Paulo. More than 200,000 protesters packed the
streets calling for Collor's resignation. Tens of thousands also
took to the streets in Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and
Curitiba.
    The 200-page report issued on Monday by a congressional
committee found the president had profited in a government
corruption scandal.
    It said Collor and his family received millions of dollars
from an influence-peddling racket run by a friend and cited
evidence that would allow impeachment proceedings to begin.
    As the political crisis deepened, Collor's cabinet pledged
loyalty to the president's administration.
    Asked whether he or democracy was in danger, Collor said in
the interview: "Neither of the two. I am quite calm. Life in
Brazil goes on."
    Accusing the press of exaggeration, Collor said news reports
did not reflect the true situation and he would welcome a court
investigation into the report's allegations.
    "As Brazilian president and the guardian of the
constitution, I am awaiting the verdict of the judicial
system," said Collor.
    Questioned about his personal reaction to the scandal that
has engulfed his presidency, Collor replied: "It is a period of
my life which has been very spiritually enriching."
    Government officials pleaded for residents to remain calm
and allow the constitutional process to move forward.
    Collor in 1990 became Brazil's first popularly elected
president in 30 years after promising to stamp out corruption.
    The pledge of loyalty by Collor's cabinet was signed by 14
of the government's 15 ministers. The missing signatory,
Agriculture Minister Antonio Cabrera, was in Rio de Janeiro and
unable to sign, a spokesman said.
    Collor's spokesman, Etevaldo Dias, said the president would
address the nation on television later this week.
    Opposition political parties, lawyers and the press are
preparing a formal request to Congress to open impeachment
proceedings. It will probably be presented early next month.
    But government supporters say they are confident they can
muster the one-third vote needed in the lower house of Congress
to block the impeachment process.
    While in some Latin American nations the heady political
atmosphere would have led to a flurry of coup rumours or talk
the president might suspend the constitution, many key figures
seemed eager to keep Brazil's young democracy alive.
    They expressed a desire to ensure that the political crisis
is worked out along the constitutional lines framed during the
late 1980s.

--------------

By STAN LEHMAN
 Associated Press Writer
   SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Thousands of protesters gathered
outside Congress today as legislators prepared to vote on a
corruption report that could lead to the impeachment of President
Fernando Collor de Mello.
   The report, released Monday by a congressional committee,
accuses the president of taking $6.5 million in "undue benefits"
from his 1989 campaign treasurer, Paulo Cesar Farias.
   The 22-member committee was to vote later in the day on its
recommendation that impeachment proceedings be initiated by the
full House and Senate. If it is passed, the report will be sent to
the full House, where a two-thirds majority is needed before
impeachment proceedings are opened by the Senate.
   Collor, Brazil's first freely elected president after 21 years
of military rule, has pledged to fight impeachment, but he has been
seriously weakened by the report.
   A crowd gathered early today on the lawn outside the Congress
building in Brazil's capital, Brasilia. Some people waved Brazilian
flags and banners reading "Collor Get Out!"
   State police ringed the building, and policemen on horseback
patrolled the streets. Areas within a 1,000-yard radius of Collor's
Brasilia mansion were declared a national security zone to keep out
protesters.
   On Tuesday, more than a million demonstrators took to the
streets nationwide to demand Collor's impeachment, and more
politicians abandoned his administration.
   In Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city and its industrial and
financial center, more than 350,000 protestors packed a downtown
square.
   Street vendor Carlos Ferrer sold T-shirts reading: "I believe
in the president, and in elves, Santa Claus and virginity." He
said business was brisk.
   "Street demonstrations are fundamental to persuade Congress to
impeach Collor," said Gov. Luiz Antonio Fleury Filho of Sao Paulo,
Brazil's richest and most populous state.
   He said Collor "has lost the moral conditions to govern the
country."
   Walter Sacca, a director of Sao Paulo's powerful Federation of
Industries, said "protests must continue to force the country's
politicians to punish all those guilty of corruption, including the
president. If there is no punishment, there will be chaos."
   The last time Brazilians took to the streets in such large
numbers was during 1984 protests that helped force the armed forces
to step down and accept a return to civilian rule the following
year.
   Investigators said Farias, the campaign treasurer accused of
running an extortion ring that took millions of dollars from
businessmen in return for government contracts or favors, has been
paying Collor's expenses since he took office in early 1990.
   According to news accounts, 209 legislators in the 503-seat
lower House support Collor -- down from 252 last week. The
government needs 168 votes to block impeachment. A vote is expected
by Sept. 8.
   Collor has tried to shore up support by opening the public
coffers to "friendly" legislators. He recently raised military
salaries and released $400 million for low-cost housing and
sanitation projects.
   But the government was seriously weakened when the leaders of
two pro-government parties announced they would support
impeachment.
   Vice President Itamar Franco also has turned against the
president. Franco, who would take office if Collor is impeached,
called the corruption charges "an ethical road map." relations
with Collor.
   The military, which still wields significant political
influence, has largely remained neutral. Prospects of a coup are
seen as remote.
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mario Faria    -    mariof@sco.com
The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO), Inc.
 
"Even in this part of the galaxy, Captain, 2 plus 2 is 4" - Mr.Spock to 
Captain Kirk

#include <standard disclaimers>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.brazil