The Edge of Democracy
2019
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Dilma Vana Rousseff ( Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈdʒiwmɐ ˈvɐ̃nɐ ʁuˈsɛf (i)]; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who is the Chair of the New Development Bank since March 2023. Previously, she served as the 36th president of Brazil from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. [1]
- Paula Rousseff
- PT (2001–present)
- PDT (1979–2001)
- Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
- Overview
- Early life and political career
- Presidency
Dilma Rousseff (born December 14, 1947, Belo Horizonte, Brazil) Brazilian politician who in 2011 became Brazil’s first female president. She was reelected in 2014 but impeached and removed from office in 2016.
Rousseff was raised in an upper-middle-class household. Her father was a lawyer who immigrated to Brazil from Bulgaria, and her mother was a teacher. In 1964 Brazil’s president was overthrown by a coalition of civilian and military officials, and the teenaged Rousseff became involved in the left-wing opposition to the government. She was associated with the militant group National Liberation Command (Comando de Libertação Nacional; Colina), and she married fellow activist Cláudio Galeno Linhares in 1968. After a raid on a Colina safe house resulted in police fatalities, the pair went into hiding in Rio de Janeiro. She and Galeno later fled Rio de Janeiro for Porto Alegre, subsequently separated, and in 1981 divorced. Rousseff moved to São Paulo, and it was there in 1970 that she was arrested by government forces. She was imprisoned for three years on the charge of subversion and during that time was subjected to torture by her captors.
Upon her release in 1973, Rousseff resumed her education; she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre in 1977. As the grip of the dictatorship weakened, Rousseff became active in local politics, and she was appointed finance secretary for Porto Alegre in 1986. She left that position in 1988 and later spent two years as president of the Foundation of Economics and Statistics of Rio Grande do Sul state (1991–93). She returned to government work in 1993 as secretary of mines, energy, and communications for Rio Grande do Sul, and she was credited with increasing energy efficiency and power production within the state. Rousseff left that post in 1994 and later pursued a Ph.D. in economics. Before receiving the degree, however, she was called back to her former government post in 1999, and it was there that she became affiliated with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores; PT). Her standing in the party quickly rose, and she left her government job in 2002 to serve on the staff of Lula’s successful presidential campaign.
Rousseff outlined a domestic agenda that focused on the maintenance of economic stability, poverty eradication, political reform, tax reform, and job creation. Her foreign policy stressed human rights, multilateralism, peace, and nonintervention. In August she launched a new industrial policy, “Larger Brazil,” that included “buy Brazilian” provisions and tax cuts for industry. In November she signed a landmark law that established a truth commission to investigate the disappearances and human rights abuses during military rule.
Throughout 2011, Rousseff’s administration faced accusations of corruption. By the end of 2011, investigations into multiple allegations of corruption and the possibility of congressional inquiries had led to the resignation of five cabinet ministers, all holdovers from the Lula administration. In November 2012 six more Brazilian government officials were arrested on charges of influence peddling and corruption. Rousseff fired two of them. Meanwhile, the trial of the largest political corruption scandal in Brazilian history was winding down. The case, dubbed the mensalão (“big monthly bribe”), involved a scheme to bribe members of the Chamber of Deputies, and it was alleged that Lula had been involved.
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All this occurred as the Brazilian economy cooled down considerably, with the gross domestic product slipping from a growth rate of about 7.5 percent in 2010 to 1.0 percent growth in 2012. In response, the central bank pursued an aggressive policy of interest-rate reduction and lowered the reserve requirement for Brazilian banks, which injected liquidity into the economy, helping to keep the unemployment rate low and buoying Rousseff’s popularity. In September 2012, under pressure from industry to cut the costs of electricity, Rousseff announced a “provisional measure” that created a mechanism to reduce energy prices by an average of about 20 percent and renewed for up to 30 years the concessions from electricity plants set to expire in 2015–17.
Brazil’s political landscape was transformed by massive, sometimes violent street protests that began in São Paulo in June 2013 and spread throughout the country. The demonstrations were staged mainly by a growing middle class that was increasingly anxious about government corruption, the country’s disappointing economic performance, and poor delivery of public services, especially in light of the billions spent by the government on infrastructure and to build and upgrade stadiums for the football (soccer) World Cup competition that the country would host in 2014 and Summer Olympic Games that Rio de Janiero was scheduled to host in 2016. Rousseff’s response to the unrest included a controversial plan to attempt to remedy Brazil’s shortage of physicians by bringing in foreign doctors, especially from Cuba. The demonstrations contributed to a drop in Rousseff’s approval rating from 65 percent to 30 percent at one point during 2013.
The Senate found President Dilma Rousseff guilty of responsibility crimes and administrative misconduct regarding the federal budget and removed her from office after a vote of 61–20 on 31 August 2016.
- Criminal administrative misconduct, disregarding the Brazilian federal budget
- Approved
- 2 December 2015 – 31 August 2016, (8 months, 4 weeks and 1 day)
- Convicted by the Federal Senate, removed from office
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Apr 12, 2016 · Ms Rousseff's personal record on corruption may be untarnished so far - but her handling of the economy has been highly controversial. And this is the argument the opposition has been advancing...
- 2 min
- Daniel Gallas
Aug 31, 2016 · By Simon Romero. Aug. 31, 2016. BRASÍLIA — The Senate on Wednesday impeached Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president, and removed her from office for the rest of her term, the ...
- 1 min
- Simon Romero
The presidency of Dilma Rousseff began on January 1, 2011 with Dilma Vana Rousseff's inauguration as president after defeating PSDB candidate José Serra in the 2010 elections, and ended with her impeachment on August 31, 2016, already in her second term.
Aug 31, 2016 · Brazil’s Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to impeach President . Dilma Rousseff in a historic decision that ends nearly 14 years of rule by her leftwing Workers’ party in Latin America...
