Vice President Michel Temer has assumed interim leadership of the country and will be sworn in to office Thursday.
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Rousseff rejected both the allegations against her and the impeachment proposal. Given certain predisposition to condemn her, it appears the traditional ruling class has asserted its control over the country in a neat palace coup in which the person on trial has not been charged with a crime like corruption.
“The Brazilian elite, the ruling class, which keeps treating this county as if it was their hereditary dominion, does not appreciate democracy”, he said.
The Workers Party rose from Brazil’s labor movement in the 1970s and helped topple generals who had held power for two decades ending in 1985.
Mr Temer was due to meet with his cabinet on Friday morning, followed by a news conference by new Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles, the man in charge of rebooting Latin America’s largest economy.
She lost the vote 55 to 22 – far more than the simple majority the pro-impeachment camp needed in the 81-member Senate.
In her words, “I may have committed errors but I never committed crimes”. Rousseff has long argued she did nothing wrong.
Temer is, however, very popular with worldwide investors and is expected to announce an austerity program, ostensibly to get Brazil’s flailing economy under control. Many Brazilians worry he will move to weaken an investigation that has ensnared dozens of the country’s elite, from top politicians to businessmen.
“This is a tragic hour for our country”, said Rousseff, an economist and former Marxist guerrilla, calling her suspension an effort by conservatives to roll back the social and economic gains made by Brazil’s working class.
“What is at stake is respect for the independent will of the Brazilian people and the Constitution, and for the achievements of the past 13 years” under the leadership of the Workers’ Party, said Rousseff, flanked by her cabinet and political allies.
“We have seen the great progress being made in Rio de Janeiro and we remain confident about the success of the Olympic Games in August”, the IOC quoted its President Thomas Bach as saying. During trial proceedings, another two-thirds vote by the Senate would convict Rousseff and permanently remove her from the country’s presidency. Technically, she has been suspended 180 days, pending the outcome of the trial.
If she is permanently ousted, Temer will serve out the rest of her term, which now is due to expire on January 1, 2019.
The latest target of a sprawling probe into the graft was Senator Aecio Neves, who narrowly lost to Rousseff in the 2014 presidential elections – and who was one of the senators voting to impeach Rousseff.
Rio organizers are also facing criticism for the polluted waters of the venues that will host sailing and open-water swimming events among other things.
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After years of robust growth the economy entered a recession, contracting almost four percent last year with soaring inflation and unemployment. “Temer will have the president’s shadow hanging over him, pressuring his government to achieve fast results”, he said.
