“Ciclos de poder e lucro: corporações transnacionais, elites políticas e religiosas e a superexploração do Brasil”

Abstract

This paper is an essay that seeks to analyze how the articulation between global financial capital, political elites, and evangelical leadership has reconfigured Brazil’s structural dependence, establishing a regime of “financialized impunity” in which socio-environmental crimes and corporate fraud are treated as operational costs. The study historically reconstructs this subordination, from the influence of the United States in the 1964 dictatorship to the 2016 impeachment and the Lava Jato operation, with impacts on Petrobras. Cases such as the Vale disasters (Mariana and Brumadinho), Lojas Americanas, and Eletrobras illustrate how the logic of dividend maximization intensifies exploitation, inequality, and the loss of sovereignty. The methodology employed is qualitative and exploratory, based on bibliographic review, documentary analysis, and examination of audiovisual materials. The results indicate that Brazil is experiencing a “modernization of dependence,” characterized by financial flows, indebtedness, and institutional capture rather than military occupation. The analysis highlights the need for stronger financial system regulation and the reconstruction of state capacity to address structural inequalities.