Politics & Coffee

From shoeshine boys to industrial tycoons, Brazilians never tire of talking politics and coffee, and last week there was some zestful news about each. In Congress, the first impeachment proceedings in Brazilian history were under way against President Getulio Vargas. Acting under an obscure 1950 law allowing anyone to make official charges against the President, a small-time politico put before Congress allegations of assorted presidential wrongdoing. Opposition Congressmen mischievously forced the matter to the floor, and the debate was on.

Scurrying to read the Constitution, Deputies found that a majority vote would suspend the President until the Senate could try him. Best guess was that Vargas' opponents lacked the votes. But they might yet give him a painful political clawing in an election year, employing a device so new to Brazil that orators and newspapers referring to it had to bypass Portuguese and use the English word "impeachment."

If Vargas duly survives the debate without mortal wounds, his own political move-of-the-week will considerably brighten the chances of his congressional supporters in the October elections. Responding to coffee growers who have been worrying that their present high returns might not last, he established a government-support price right at the current market level. Any U.S. hopes for cheaper coffee in the next year faded with Vargas' move. But as one coffee exporter sourly explained: "In an election year he has to do something for the coffee farmers. This is it."

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