On the Senate floor, Rousseff and her defenders stuck tenaciously and defiantly to script: the fiscal pretext for impeachment was weak and no previous president had been held responsible for the same errors; the economic crisis was not her doing but the result of global circumstances she could not control; and she herself never personally benefitted from the corruption that took place during her presidency.
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‘I denounce strongly the institutional putsch that tramples the will of 54 million Brazilians who voted in 2014 in favor of Dilma Rousseff, whose policies led to 40 million people out of poverty, ‘said the senator in a statement.
While the USA said that the definite ousting of the now-former president of Brazil followed constitutional proceedings, the so-called Bolivarian governments – Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia – reacted by calling their ambassadors back.
Rousseff was Brazil’s first female president, with a career that includes a stint as a Marxist guerrilla jailed and tortured in the 1970s during the country’s dictatorship.
Rousseff said that her removal was a “parliamentary coup”, and insisted that an economic elite was seeking to crack down on social programs that had helped millions of poor Brazilians over the past decade.
What about the popular protests in Brazil against Temer? They got many more, with the Senate voting 61-20.
In a second vote on Wednesday, the Senate decided whether or not to ban Rousseff from public office for the next eight years.
A political crisis in Venezuela has already heightened tensions with the Temer Government, which took over on an interim basis when Rousseff was suspended in May to face trial. Her dismissal ended more than 13 years of government of the Workers Party (PT). The two-year probe has led to the jailing of dozens of top businessmen and politicians from across the political spectrum, and threatens numerous same lawmakers who voted to remove Rousseff.
The son of Lebanese immigrants, the 75-year-old Temer quietly rose through Brazil’s political ranks, building a reputation as a negotiator who could forge deals among political rivals.
In 1964, the Brazilian military staged a coup against another democratically elected president. This time the majority voted no, with 42 votes against and 36 for, meaning she could technically return to politics whenever she wants. The court’s top justice presided over her trial. Cuba’s Communist government branded Rousseff’s ouster part of an “imperialist” offensive against progressive governments in Latin America.
Even though the Senate’s decision is a major blow for Rousseff, it may not mark the end of her political career.
In Sao Paolo, Rousseff supporters lit fires and smashed banks and other businesses, clashing with riot police, who fired tear gas in a bid to control the crowds.
When he announced the opening of the Olympics on August 5, he was so loudly booed that he remained out of sight for the remainder of the Games.
“The impeachment reduces uncertainties, which helps approval of reforms”, Jorge Simino, chief investment officer at Funcesp, Brazil’s fourth-largest pension fund with $8.1 billion (26.2 billion reais) in assets.
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“This coup is against social movements and unions and against those who fight for their rights”, she said.
