Dilma Rousseff: Brazil’s First Female President

• Buffer
• Tweet

Dilma Rousseff’s inauguration as President of Brazil, on the first day of 2011, was attended by 76 ambassadors, 23 heads of state, 9 vice presidents, and 28 secretaries of state, including Hilary Clinton of the United States. Rouseff’s inaugration is unique because she became the first female to be the president of South America’s largest country, Brazil.

Dilma Rousseff was a Former Marxist Rebel

The inauguration occurs almost 41 years after Dilma Rousseff, a former Marxist rebel, was arrested and escorted in a military van to Tiradentes Prison.  That is where she was tortured for nearly two years by Brazil’s then-military government that began in 1964 for her activities as a left-wing guerrilla fighter during the 1960s.  Dilma was a member of the underground VAR Palmares group. She then became known as the “subversive Joan of Arc.”  During her historic speech outside the Brazilian National Congress, she honored the infamous eleven women who spent time in the Tiradentes Prison with her.  She ultimately was imprisoned for three years in the early 1970s.

Dilma Rousseff traces her lineage to Bulgaria.  That’s where her father immigrated from during the 1940s.  She studied economics after she was set free from prison; lived with her second husband, Carlos Araujo, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.  They separated in 1994.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – Dilma Rousseff’s Predecessor

Dilma Rousseff joined the Workers’ Party before Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was elected as president in 2002.  She replaced Jose Dirceu as Cabinet chief three years later when he and several party stalwarts resigned over allegations they knew about payments made to lawmakers in exchange for votes while she was serving as the energy minister.  As she was being treated for lymphoma in 2009, her candidacy for the president was placed in doubt.  Her doctors, in September 2009, said she was in excellent health.

Dilma Rousseff, who took the oath of office alongside Vice president Michel Temer, takes the rein of Brazil from Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is the nation’s most popular president.  Brazil’s constitution forbids a President from seeking a third consecutive term.  He leaves the office with a record 83 percent approval rating.  The civilians are happy with his assistance on lifting 21 million people out of poverty and trimmed unemployment to a record low 5.7 percent in late 2010.  Lastly, the growth during 2009 was foreshadowing to be the fastest since the mid-1980s.

Dilma Rousseff served as Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s cabinet chief and energy minister, and had never ran for public office before entering the presidential race.  With the help of her predecessor’s endorsement, she had 56 percent of the votes in a runoff against a former governor of Sao Paulo state, Jose Serra.

Other People in the Dilma Rousseff Presidential Administration

Dilma Rousseff has already filled about half of the minister cabinet (37 positions) with people from Lula da Silva’s administration.  She has picked low-profile figures for less important positions.  She also appointed some famous professionals for key posts, such as having Chicago-trained economist Alexandre Tombini as Central Bank Governor.

The chief of staff for Dilma Rousseff’s administration is Antonio Palocci, who was Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s first finance minister.  Moreover, he had a key role to make sure the economic stabilization policies were taken on by Lula da Silva’s predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso.  Palocci will now be working with inner cabinet members that are of sufficiently qualified, moderate, and widely known politicians.  Yet, Dilma has clashed multiple times with Palocci, who is more liberal.  Any collaboration between both could be interesting to witness.  She’s willing to concede to have a powerful state position in the economy, and she also presided over a reform of the oil sector that gave the state company Petrobras a virtual monopoly over Brazil’s massive new discoveries of offshore oil.

Resources About Brazil’s First Female President is Dilma Rousseff

Brazil Swears in First Female President

Rousseff Pledges to Guard Against Inflation ‘Plague’ in Brazil

Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff Faces Tough Presidential Task

Dilma Rousseff Sworn in as Brazil’s New President

Brazil Inaugurates First Female President

Resource by S.Lee

I like to read, write, draw, paint, and use computers.

Related Research For Teachers, Students, and Kids