Brazilian Right Accused of Plotting Coup

The statement was signed by 28 groups including the MST Landless Movement and the Catholic Church’s Pastoral Land Commission.

It is also signed by 10 lawmakers from Rousseff’s Workers Party, or PT, as well as by dozens of individuals who signed on a personal basis.

The statement accuses certain sectors of the opposition and the press of repeated attempts to create artificial pretexts for a “breakdown of democratic rule of law.”

Some sectors of the opposition demand the opening of an impeachment process to oust Rousseff for her alleged role in the corruption scandal surrounding state oil company Petrobras, for which former directors of the firm and businessmen from the private sector have been arrested, and for which some 50 politicians are being investigated.

Vice President Michel Temer said Monday that a process to impeach Rousseff is “unthinkable,” though he added that he worries because the idea is being “sponsored” by a number of sectors.

The statement also accuses the speaker of the lower house, Eduardo Cunha, of trying to “usurp” presidential powers “to impose on the country the same conservative agenda that lost the 2014 elections.”

Cunha of the PMDB party is nominally allied to Rousseff but has voted against several laws promoted by her administration and has proposed other legislation opposed by the PT, including one to make it easier for employers to outsource.