Brasilia, June 1 (RHC-teleSUR) -- Aloysio Nunes, a key opposition figure involved in former President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment and who has strong ties to Washington, has been appointed the new government leader in Brazil's Senate.

Reports from Brasilia say that Nunes, of the center-right party PSDB, was sent to Washington by coup President Michel Temer on the day that Brazil's lower house of Congress voted to impeach the country's president Dilma Rousseff.  There, he met with various U.S. officials and lobbyists, including the chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as the Washington lobbying firm Albright Stonebridge Group that was formerly headed by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Analysts say that the choice to send Nunes to Washington was likely a strategic one.  He lost his bid for the vice presidency with PSDB in 2014, the year Rousseff was re-elected, and he has repeatedly called for closer ties with the United States.  And like other members of the Brazilian House who pushed for Dilma's impeachment, Nunes has many corruption allegations against him.

The new coup leader of the Brazilian Senate has been one of the key figures behind a proposal to open up the country's Presalt Oil reserves to foreign investors, wresting control away from the state oil company, Petrobras.  These reserves are estimated to be worth around $10-20 trillion.