Black Protest

Economic chaos and corruption charges may topple Brazil's Collor

Fernando Collor de Mello won the Brazilian presidency in 1989 by reaching out to the descamisados, the country's shirtless poor. Now Brazilians by the thousands are putting on shirts -- black ones -- to demonstrate their disgust with a Collor regime that is haunted by scandal and economic failure. An inflation rate of 20% a month and record unemployment had already eroded support for the once popular Collor even before congressional investigators recently uncovered a kickback and bid-rigging racket engineered by top presidential aides. The embattled President made the mistake of asking followers to dress in green and yellow, the national...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!