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October 20, 2016

Political science instructor Joara Minharo will present “Brazilian Democracy in Peril” at the next Wenatchee Valley College Speaks Lecture Series. The lecture is Thursday, Nov. 3, at 2 p.m. in Wenatchi Hall 2105 and via interactive television to the Omak campus room 901. It is free and open to the public.

This lecture will delve into the complexities of the impeachment of Dilma Vana Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president. The discussion will include the involvement of U.S. geopolitical forces and international financial interests in Brazilian markets and natural resources.

On Aug. 31, 2016, Rousseff was impeached by the Brazilian Congress. Although the impeachment followed the parameters of Brazil’s 1988 constitution, “the consensus is that [the impeachment] was a farcical attempt…to render a deceptive veneer of legality to a process designed to remove an honest and incorruptible president from power,” Minharo explained. “Most scholars, observers and students of Brazilian and Latin American history and politics agree that Rousseff’s impeachment was in fact a parliamentary soft coup.”

Minharo will also discuss how the Brazilian and U.S. media handled the impeachment, Brazil’s feudal history, and issues of misogyny and sexism surrounding the impeachment.

Minharo is an immigrant from Brazil. She left her country in 1984 due to a repressive military dictatorship. She received a master’s degree at Western Washington University with an emphasis on Latin American Comparative Politics and U.S.-Latin American Relations. She joined WVC in 2007.

Daily parking passes on the Wenatchee campus cost $2. Parking permit machines are available in the Wells Hall/Music and Art Center, Smith Gym, Brown Library and Sexton Hall lots. Students must have valid WVC parking permits.