We just learned that President Dilma Rouseff has been ousted from the presidency: 

Brazil’s Senate ousted Dilma Rousseff as president Wednesday, voting overwhelmingly to impeach the leftist leader in the culmination of a protracted process that has divided the country.

The vote to impeach Rousseff was 61 to 20. Two-thirds of senators — 54 out of 81 — were needed for impeachment to pass.

Senators broke into cheering and applause after the electronic voting was announced, concluding a process that was given the go-head in December.

My guess is that her mentor Lula will be next. It has not been a good 12 months for the left!

This is a great victory for the rule of law in Latin America, although we warn you that crony capitalism is not going away overnight. Nevertheless, the ousting of Rouseff confirms that corruption has its limits even in a country where people looked the other way as long the economy was booming.

It is a great victory for those of us who see signs in Latin America, from Argentina to Chile to Colombia to Mexico, that a middle class is rejecting the taxes that feed administrative bureaucracies unaccountable to no one.

It will take a while to cleanse Latin America of this chronic corruption. However, this is a step in the right direction for those of who believe that corruption (i.e. crony capitalism) is holding back so much of this region.

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