The Lava Jato investigation and the political instability in Latin America

Abstract

Anti-corruption investigations have always been one of the main causes of political crises in Latin America. However, the last episodes of presidential removal have shown a new activism of the parliaments, which have re-interpreted the constitutional provisions on impeachment proceedings in order to legitimize a change in the governmental agenda. This practice affects the balance between the two representative powers, as it fails to observe the limits of the presidential accountability and paves the way to new instabilities.