Dilma Vana Rousseff is a former Brazilian president who was removed from office by impeachment. This event caused a significant global outcry, because in such an extraordinary way the leader of one of the leading world powers was removed. What did D. Rousseff do? Impeachment in Brazil, as well as a brief biography of this politician will be the subject of our study.
Youth
Dilma Rousseff (Dilma Vana Rousseff), was born in December 1947 in the large Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte. Her father is a Bulgarian immigrant, Petr Rusev, who was forced to flee his native country because he was a member of the communist party persecuted there. In Brazil, he married a local native of Dilma, Jean Coimbre Silva. It was from this marriage that Dilma Vana was born. In addition to her, the family had two more children - Igor and Zhana Lusia.
Dilma, like her father, shared leftist ideas. Already at the age of twenty, she was an activist of the Socialist Party, joining its most radical wing, which called for an armed struggle against the dictatorship that was established at that time in Brazil. Radicalism and participation in armed rebel groups have causedrebel arrest. After that, at the military court, the girl was read out what they were accused of. Dilma Rousseff was tortured and only released from prison in 1972.
After her release from prison, Dilma graduated and gave birth to a daughter. She again took part in the left movement, but this time using only legal methods. Dilma Rousseff became one of those who stood at the origins of the creation of the Democratic Labor Party, which arose in 1979.
In big politics
After Dilma Rousseff worked as a treasurer in the city government of Porto Alegre, and then headed a non-state foundation, she decided to go into big politics. To this end, at the end of the 90s, Rousseff joined the Workers' Party, which was distinguished by more radical ideas than the Democratic Labor Party.
It was in no small part due to the energy program prepared by Dilma that Luis da Silva, a representative of the Workers' Party, became president in 2003. It was D. Rousseff who became the Minister of Energy under him. Impeachment did not threaten this president, moreover, he was re-elected to this post in 2006, and Dilma became the head of his administration.
President Election
In 2010, Dilma Rousseff is running for president herself. During the nomination, she was supported by the current leader of Brazil, Luis da Silva. In her election program, Dilma Rousseff put forward proposals for political and agrarian reform. She supported homosexual marriages, butopposed the legalization of soft drugs and the death pen alty.
In the first round of the electoral race, held in October 2010, Dilma Rousseff showed an excellent result, taking first place with almost 47% of the vote. In order to become president without a second round, she lacked only a little more than 3% of the vote. Nevertheless, in the second round, gaining about 56% of the vote, she confidently outstripped Jose Serra, the representative of the Social Democratic Party, Dilma Rousseff. The impeachment that would happen to her in the future, then no one could even imagine, because she became the first woman in the presidency in the history of Brazilian statehood.
Presidency
The 36th President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, after she began to fulfill her immediate duties, met a number of political and economic challenges in the country, which she tried to cope with to the best of her ability. It's hard to judge how well she did. Whatever it was, but at the next presidential election held in the fall of 2014, the people again chose Dilma.
However, this time she did not hold the upper hand as convincingly as in the previous elections. In the first round, 41.6% of voters voted for Rousseff, and in the second - only 51.6%, which allowed her to bypass Aesio Nevis, a representative of the Social Democratic Party, by a minimum margin and secure a second presidency.
Suspicions of corruption
This time I could not drive so calmlycountry Dilma Rousseff. The impeachment was the result of successive events, which we will discuss below. True, the beginning of this story should be sought even during the presidency of the previous leader of the country, Luis da Silva.
He set up a corruption scheme whereby construction companies were forced to pay kickbacks in order to be selected to carry out various jobs commissioned by the major state oil company Petrobras. The amount of kickbacks went to the development of the Workers' Party, as well as to the personal needs of its leaders, including Luis da Silva.
These data came to light as a result of an investigation launched in 2014. Dilma Rousseff was not just one of the leaders of the Workers' Party, but was also the chairman of the board of directors of this oil company from 2003 to 2010. At the same time, she constantly denied that she knew anything about the above-described corruption schemes. But how honest was D. Rousseff? Impeachment was just around the corner.
Beginning of impeachment proceedings
On top of that, Dilma Rousseff was accused in the fall of 2015 of using administrative leverage, financial fraud and violating tax laws during the elections in 2014, which ensured her victory.
The clouds hung over D. Rousseff's head. The impeachment was initiated by the opposition and launched in parliament in December 2015.
Further development of the scandal
Dilma Rousseff was not afraid of the accusations. In March 2016, she appointed formerPresident Luis da Silva, who was the main person involved in the corruption scandal, the head of his administration. Under Brazilian law, the person holding this position was inviolable, that is, in fact, da Silva became inaccessible to the investigating authorities and the court. This looked like a kind of challenge that D. Rousseff threw to the parliament and the opposition. Impeachment was one of the consequences of such self-confident actions. Although, according to another version, defending da Silva, she thus defended herself, because during the inquiry of the investigating authorities, the former president could also provide information about the involvement of Rousseff herself in corruption frauds.
Naturally, da Silva's appointment was seen as an attempt to protect him. This provoked a million-strong protest rally by opposition forces and the population that supports the opposition and opposes corruption. A federal judge issued a special ruling that suspended the appointment of da Silva as chief of staff of the president, arguing that the appointment interferes with the administration of justice.
Completion of the impeachment process
In April 2016, the lower house of the Brazilian parliament voted for the resignation of the president. This decision received more than two-thirds of the votes, as required by law. The impeachment case was then referred to the Senate for final approval.
In May 2016, the senators also voted for Rousseff's resignation. The votes were distributed in the proportion of 55against 22. This meant that Dilma was suspended from her duties for 180 days. After this period, in view of the newly revealed circumstances, the senate had to make a final and irrevocable decision. Vice President Michel Temer became interim head of state.
At the end of August 2016, the Senate voted again for the resignation of Dilma Rousseff by two-thirds of the votes. Thus, the impeachment proceedings were fully completed.
Reasons for removal from power
The main reason for the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff was the misappropriation of public funds during the presidential campaign in 2014.
The second main reason for the resignation was that Rousseff was involved in the corruption scheme of the former president of the country. Even if she did not actually know about it, then as the head of a company that was directly involved in illegal activities, she had to be aware of what was happening around the facility she managed.
Also, trying to protect da Silva played a bad joke on Dilma.
And of course, one of the reasons for the impeachment was the desire of the opposition to remove the incumbent president. But this is the desire of the opposition in almost any country, and such forces can fulfill it only if there is a proper reason. It should be noted that with her actions, Dilma Rousseff gave the opponents all the cards in hand.
Grand totals
So, we have learned why Dilma Rousseff was removed from her position as President of Brazil. As you can see, there are both her own mistakes in this,and the keen desire of the opposition forces to carry out a change of power.
Currently, the president of Brazil is the former vice-president of the country and leader of the Democratic Movement Party (of which Rousseff herself was a member) Michel Temer. Dilma's supporters held several rallies to protest against her removal, but, of course, they were inconclusive.
Thus, it is necessary to state the fact that Dilma Rousseff, as a result of impeachment, was removed from the post of President of Brazil. This process is now fully completed.
