Dilma Vana Rousseff served as the 36th President of Brazil from 1 January 2011 until her removal via impeachment on 31 August 2016. She was Brazil's first woman head of state and a senior figure in the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT).
Born in Belo Horizonte in 1947, Rousseff joined left-wing resistance groups opposing Brazil's military dictatorship in the late 1960s. She was arrested in 1970, imprisoned for roughly three years, and subjected to torture — a biographical fact she invoked throughout her political career. After redemocratisation she helped found the Democratic Labour Party (PDT) in Rio Grande do Sul before joining the PT.
Under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva she served as Minister of Mines and Energy (2003–2005) and then Chief of Staff (Casa Civil) from 2005 to 2010, where she coordinated the Growth Acceleration Programme (PAC). Lula backed her as the PT candidate in 2010; she defeated José Serra in a second-round runoff and was re-elected in 2014 in a narrow contest against Aécio Neves of the PSDB.
Her presidency coincided with the end of the commodity supercycle, a deep recession beginning in 2014, and the expansion of the Lava Jato (Car Wash) corruption investigation centred on Petrobras. The June 2013 mass protests, initially over transit fares, signalled broader discontent with public services and political corruption.
Impeachment proceedings were opened by Chamber of Deputies speaker Eduardo Cunha in December 2015 on charges of pedaladas fiscais — using state banks to mask budget shortfalls in violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Law. The Chamber voted to impeach on 17 April 2016; the Senate suspended her on 12 May and convicted her on 31 August 2016 by 61–20. Vice President Michel Temer (PMDB) assumed the presidency. Rousseff and her allies characterised the process as a parliamentary coup.
In 2023 President Lula nominated her to head the New Development Bank (the BRICS bank) in Shanghai, a post she assumed in April 2023.
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In April 2023, Dilma Rousseff was sworn in as president of the BRICS-backed New Development Bank in Shanghai, succeeding Marcos Troyjo.
Frequently asked questions
The Senate convicted her on 31 August 2016 for fiscal manoeuvres known as pedaladas fiscais — delaying transfers to state banks to disguise budget deficits, deemed a violation of Brazil's Fiscal Responsibility Law. Critics, including Rousseff herself, called the process a politically motivated coup.
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