Brazil’s Senate has voted to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office for manipulating the budget. It puts an end to the 13 years in power of her left-wing Workers’ Party.
Ms Rousseff had denied the charges. Sixty-one senators voted in favour of her dismissal and 20 against, meeting the two-thirds majority needed to remove her from the presidency.
Dilma Rousseff is the first head of state to be impeached for something that no one had ever used before because it was so patently bogus. But it appears her opposition had big brother U.S. on its side, and they have now sworn in their party’s man as president, and the corruption investigations involving them should come to a halt quite quickly.
If the Ukraine opposition had the political juice behind them, and the US it could go through the Poroshenko regime like a hot knife through butter. Why do I suspect that political gangsters around the world are looking to see if they can use this method to their benefit, or something similar?
The UN’s Mr. Ban ki-Moon has put his stamp of approval on it, welcoming the new political coup government into the fold. I am looking forward to not seeing him around anymore.
I never liked the way he made a mountain out of a molehill on some things, and then totally ignored things like the substantial state-sponsored terrorism members have engaged in, even among the Security Council members, without the UN ever uttering a word of protest… Jim W. Dean
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Venezuela and Ecuador have announced that they are severing diplomatic ties with Brazil in response to the removal of Dilma Rousseff as the Latin American country’s president.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Caracas described Rousseff’s impeachment and ouster as a “parliamentary coup”, and said it “permanently” withdrew the Venezuelan ambassador “in order to safeguard international law and solidarity with the people of Brazil.”
Ecuador also recalled its envoy to Brazil and released a statement condemning the Brazilian Senate’s decision.
“Given these exceptional facts, the government of Ecuador has decided to call for consultations the charge d’affaires to the Republic of Brazil,” read the statement.
“These unfortunate events, unacceptable in the 21st century, pose a serious risk to the stability of our region and constitute a grave setback in the consolidation of democracy,” the Ecuadorian government added.
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a statement expressed hope that “under President Temer’s leadership, Brazil and the UN will continue their traditional close partnership.”
‘Coup against democracy’
Meanwhile, Michel Temer has been sworn in as the country’s president and is set to serve until the end of Rousseff’s term, which would have ended on January 1, 2019.
Earlier, Brazil’s Senate voted to remove Rousseff from office over her conviction of breaking fiscal rules in her management of the 2014 federal budget. Rousseff has denied the charges.
“They (Brazil’s Senate) have just impeached the first elected woman president of Brazil. There was no constitutional reason to do it. A coup was not done just to me, [but it was against] the party (Workers Party) and our party allies who have supported me,” she said.
“This was just the beginning of a coup that will indiscriminately beat back any progressive political organization – progressive and democratic,” she added.
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Rousseff impeachment: A timeline
October 2015: Brazil’s top finance court says Russeff’s government borrowed billions illegally to offset the 2014 budget shortfall. An investigation opens into the allegations.
December 2015: Brazil’s National Congress approves to open an impeachment against the president.
April 2016: The lower house of Congress overwhelmingly votes to send the impeachment motion to the upper house, known as the Senate.
April 2016: Rousseff rejects the allegations and accuses her opponents of launching a “coup d’etat” against her.
May 2016: The Senate votes in favor of her impeachment. She is suspended.
June 2016: A team of independent auditors concludes there is no evidence that Rousseff participated in budget manipulation.
August 2016: The Senate votes to hold a final impeachment trial for Rousseff as Olympics games are underway in the South American country.
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Michel Temer has been sworn in as president and will serve out Ms Rousseff’s term until 1 January 2019.
He asked his ministers to “vigorously defend” the government from accusations that Ms Rousseff’s dismissal amounted to a coup d’etat.
The dismissal of Ms Rousseff has caused a rift between Brazil and three left-wing South American governments that criticised the move later on Wednesday.
Brazil and Venezuela recalled each other’s ambassadors. Brazilian envoys to Bolivia and Ecuador have also been ordered home.
‘See you soon’
Ms Rousseff lost the impeachment battle but won a separate Senate vote that had sought to ban her from public office for eight years.
Pledging to appeal against her dismissal, she told her supporters: “I will not say goodbye to you. I am certain I can say: ‘See you soon.'”
She added: “They have convicted an innocent person and carried out a parliamentary coup.”
Anti-Temer demonstrations were held in many cities, including Brasilia.
Ms Rousseff was suspended in May after the Senate voted to go ahead with the impeachment process.
She was accused of moving funds between government budgets, which is illegal under Brazilian law.
Her critics said she was trying to plug deficit holes in popular social programmes to boost her chances of being re-elected in 2014.
Ms Rousseff fought the allegations, arguing that her right-wing rivals had been trying to remove her from office ever since her re-election.
- Born in 1947, grew up in an upper middle class household in Belo Horizonte
- Her father was Bulgarian immigrant and an ex-communist
- Joined left-wing movement against Brazil’s military dictatorship which had seized power in 1964
- Detained in 1970 and imprisoned for three years
- Subjected to torture including electric shocks for her role in the underground resistance
- Came to political prominence as the protege of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2011
- Sworn in as Brazil’s first female president in 2011
- Re-elected to a second term in 2014
- Impeached on 31 August 2016
She said that she was being ousted because she had allowed a wide-ranging corruption investigation to go ahead, which resulted in many high-profile politicians being charged.
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