Following impeachment, road ahead in Brazil ‘a real mess’

Brazil’s 75-year-old acting president must fight the Zika virus, which can cause birth defects and has ravaged thousands of families in poor northeastern states.

[...] he must begin these gargantuan tasks with the Summer Olympics just months away and while his predecessor and former-ally-turned enemy, Dilma Rousseff, is living in the presidential residence and rallying supporters around assertions she was the victim of a coup led by Temer.

The career politician, who is married to a 32-year-old former beauty pageant contestant, took office on Thursday just hours after the Senate voted to impeach Rousseff for allegedly using illegal accounting tricks to hide deficits in the federal budget.

Meirelles quickly signaled that he’ll push to revamp labor laws to increase productivity and reform a pension system known for generous payouts and early retirement; many public workers can retire between their early and mid-50s.

Investigators uncovered a multibillion-dollar kickback scheme centered on the state oil company Petrobras that has astonished even a populous long inured to political graft.