Demonstrators take photos of cardboard figures of da Silva and Rousseff during a protest against Rousseff,...
Demonstrators take photos of cardboard figures of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (R) and President Dilma Rousseff during a protest against Rousseff, part of nationwide protests calling for her impeachment at Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo's financial centre, Brazil, August 16, 2015. An ongoing political and economic crisis once more threatens to fell the tallest tree in Brazil's political landscape: former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. His once-sterling legacy, previously tarnished by a Congressional vote-buying scandal, is now being strained further by economic and political turmoil that has driven approval ratings for his hand-picked successor into the single-digits. And a far-reaching corruption probe that has implicated key aides and associates, has revived accusations that his scandal plagued Workers' Party, now in its thirteenth year in power managed to stay there only through graft. Although it's too early to write off a leader who has dominated Brazilian politics for well over a decade, love for the former president, whom Barack Obama once called "the most popular politician on earth" is nonetheless waning. Picture taken on August 16, 2015. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker