Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer (C), holds the Senate notice promoting him to acting president in Brasilia, capital of Brazil, on May 12, 2016.
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Dilma Rousseff, the nation’s first female president, was impeached Thursday and is suspended from office.
Rousseff repeatedly has said she would fight but hasn’t said how, and most avenues have already been closed off.
After Wednesday’s all-night session that lasted more than 20 hours, senators voted by 55 votes to 22 to suspend her and put her on trial for budgetary violations.
Also Friday, new Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said the interim government’s first task will be to rein in public spending, which outstrips tax collection and generates a deficit.
Meirelles is a Wall Street favorite because he never bowed to pressure to lower interest rates from former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, widely known as Lula, during his term in office.
The economy has been predicted to contract almost 4 percent this year after an equally dismal 2015, and inflation and unemployment are hovering around 10 percent, underscoring a sharp decline after the South American giant had long enjoyed stellar growth.
Mr Meirelles promised to tackle reforms to the pension system, saying “retirement must be self-sustaining over time”, and vowed to change labour laws to increase productivity. But he was short on details.
“Like the US, Brazil is deeply polarized, so while we are witnessing a definite turn to the right, there will be limits to how sharp the shift is and its duration”, Dr. Chesnut says in an interview with The Christian Science Monitor.
“Trust me”, the 75 year old constitutional lawyer said to the Brazilian public in his inaugural speech at the presidential palace. The swift transfer of power ended 13 years of rule by the leftist Workers’ Party, which helped lift tens of millions of people from poverty with progressive social programs but became mired in corruption scandals, recession and political paralysis.
Former Solicitor General José Eduardo Cardozo, who has represented Ms. Rousseff through the impeachment process, appeared with the president at Friday’s news conference. Temer would then complete her term until 2018. “It is a coup”, she said. “There was a systematic blockage to create the proper climate for the coup”. Cables purported to have been produced by the USA embassy in Brazil in 2006 appear to have included Temer’s remarks with regard to the Brazilian political landscape, on more than one occasion.
“There are attitudes toward me that wouldn’t exist toward a male president”, Rousseff said.
“There’s a problem of representation”, particularly with respect to women, who make up more than 50 percent of Brazil’s population, she added. “It will be a moment for Brazil to show to the world its determination to overcome the present crisis”.
“To take away the Workers Party from the government and to redirect the country in whatever direction the PMDB (the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party) sees fit”. He and his cabinet are also tainted by corruption allegations.
“Dilma is a bad president and waiting until 2018 was a disgusting option”, said cab driver Alessandro Novais in Rio de Janeiro, minutes after the Senate vote.
Several of Mr Temer’s Cabinet appointees have also been hit with corruption charges and other allegations.
“What I can say is an investigation is just that, an investigation”, he said.
“So far, the Temer government only has men”.
“Michel Temer must strangle the “Car Wash” investigation or the “Car Wash” will devastate his government”, the report said.
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She must relinquish her presidential duties for at least six months.
