Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

Brazil’s crisis continues, supported by a powerful agribusiness lobby with deep historical roots. Clifford Welch, professor of contemporary Brazilian history, will detail the centrality of agribusiness support for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff in August 2016, and its opportunism in shaping the interim president’s policies. While the media has focused on corruption as cause of the crisis, he argues that historical perspective points toward the political opportunism of Brazil’s most traditional dominant class – the rural oligarchy – as it seeks to enhance its self-interest.