Reuters, Brasilia :
Brazil’s interim President Michel Temer called on his country to rally behind his government of “national salvation,” hours after the Senate voted to suspend and put on trial his leftist predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, for breaking budget laws.
Temer, a 75-year-old centrist, told Brazilians to have “confidence” that Latin America’s biggest country would overcome an ongoing crisis marked by a deep economic recession, political volatility and a sprawling corruption scandal.
“It is urgent we calm the nation and unite Brazil,” said Temer, after a signing ceremony for his incoming cabinet. “Political parties, leaders, organizations and the Brazilian people will cooperate to pull the country from this grave crisis.”
He charged his new ministers with enacting business-friendly policies while maintaining the popular social programs that were the hallmark of the 13-year administration of the leftist Workers Party.
The change in government marks a dramatic political shift in Brazil, where Rousseff, who has been in office since 2011 and was heading the fourth consecutive term for the Workers Party, was hobbled by the downturn, the corruption scandal and a political opposition determined to oust her.
Temer, a constitutional scholar who spent decades in Brazil’s Congress and who had a bitter falling out with Rousseff last year, faces the daunting task of hauling the world’s No. 9 economy out of recession and cutting bloated public spending.
He quickly named respected former central bank governor Henrique Meirelles as his finance minister, with a mandate to overhaul the costly pension system.
The Senate deliberated for 20 hours before voting 55-22 early on Thursday to put Rousseff on trial over charges that she disguised the size of the budget deficit to make the economy look healthier in the runup to her 2014 re-election.
Rousseff, 68, was automatically suspended for the duration of the trial, which could be up to six months. Before departing the presidential palace in Brasilia, a defiant Rousseff vowed to fight the charges.
In her speech, she reiterated what she has maintained since impeachment proceedings were launched against her last December by the lower house of Congress, calling the impeachment “fraudulent” and “a coup.”
“I may have made mistakes but I did not commit any crime,” she said.
Rousseff’s mentor, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who now faces corruption charges, stood behind her and looked on dejectedly. Even as outgoing ministers wept, Rousseff remained stolid.
“I never imagined that it would be necessary to fight once again against a coup in this country,” Rousseff said, in a reference to her youth fighting Brazil’s military dictatorship.
“This is a tragic hour for our country,” Rousseff said, calling her suspension an effort by conservatives to roll back the social and economic gains made by the Workers Party.
The party rose from Brazil’s labour movement and in the heady days of Lula’s presidency from 2003 helped pull millions of people out of poverty before running into recession and scandal, with many of its leaders tainted by corruption investigations and Rousseff herself increasingly unpopular.
Rousseff, an economist and former Marxist guerrilla who became Brazil’s first woman president, has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing and called the charges politically motivated.
Despite her vows to fight, she is unlikely to be acquitted in the Senate trial. The size of the vote to try her showed the opposition already has the support it will need to reach the two-thirds majority required to convict Rousseff and remove her definitively from office.
“It is a bitter though necessary medicine,” opposition Senator Jose Serra, who became the new foreign minister, said during the marathon Senate debate. “Having the Rousseff government continue would be a bigger tragedy.”
Brazil’s interim President Michel Temer called on his country to rally behind his government of “national salvation,” hours after the Senate voted to suspend and put on trial his leftist predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, for breaking budget laws.
Temer, a 75-year-old centrist, told Brazilians to have “confidence” that Latin America’s biggest country would overcome an ongoing crisis marked by a deep economic recession, political volatility and a sprawling corruption scandal.
“It is urgent we calm the nation and unite Brazil,” said Temer, after a signing ceremony for his incoming cabinet. “Political parties, leaders, organizations and the Brazilian people will cooperate to pull the country from this grave crisis.”
He charged his new ministers with enacting business-friendly policies while maintaining the popular social programs that were the hallmark of the 13-year administration of the leftist Workers Party.
The change in government marks a dramatic political shift in Brazil, where Rousseff, who has been in office since 2011 and was heading the fourth consecutive term for the Workers Party, was hobbled by the downturn, the corruption scandal and a political opposition determined to oust her.
Temer, a constitutional scholar who spent decades in Brazil’s Congress and who had a bitter falling out with Rousseff last year, faces the daunting task of hauling the world’s No. 9 economy out of recession and cutting bloated public spending.
He quickly named respected former central bank governor Henrique Meirelles as his finance minister, with a mandate to overhaul the costly pension system.
The Senate deliberated for 20 hours before voting 55-22 early on Thursday to put Rousseff on trial over charges that she disguised the size of the budget deficit to make the economy look healthier in the runup to her 2014 re-election.
Rousseff, 68, was automatically suspended for the duration of the trial, which could be up to six months. Before departing the presidential palace in Brasilia, a defiant Rousseff vowed to fight the charges.
In her speech, she reiterated what she has maintained since impeachment proceedings were launched against her last December by the lower house of Congress, calling the impeachment “fraudulent” and “a coup.”
“I may have made mistakes but I did not commit any crime,” she said.
Rousseff’s mentor, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who now faces corruption charges, stood behind her and looked on dejectedly. Even as outgoing ministers wept, Rousseff remained stolid.
“I never imagined that it would be necessary to fight once again against a coup in this country,” Rousseff said, in a reference to her youth fighting Brazil’s military dictatorship.
“This is a tragic hour for our country,” Rousseff said, calling her suspension an effort by conservatives to roll back the social and economic gains made by the Workers Party.
The party rose from Brazil’s labour movement and in the heady days of Lula’s presidency from 2003 helped pull millions of people out of poverty before running into recession and scandal, with many of its leaders tainted by corruption investigations and Rousseff herself increasingly unpopular.
Rousseff, an economist and former Marxist guerrilla who became Brazil’s first woman president, has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing and called the charges politically motivated.
Despite her vows to fight, she is unlikely to be acquitted in the Senate trial. The size of the vote to try her showed the opposition already has the support it will need to reach the two-thirds majority required to convict Rousseff and remove her definitively from office.
“It is a bitter though necessary medicine,” opposition Senator Jose Serra, who became the new foreign minister, said during the marathon Senate debate. “Having the Rousseff government continue would be a bigger tragedy.”
