MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

An Iron Lady could become Brazil’s next president

“I think I have found my Energy minister”, recalls Lula da Silva about their first meeting

An iron lady in Brazil’s future? Could be, if economist Dilma Rousseff, former guerrilla and known for her strong character and work capacity, nominated by the ruling Workers Party, PT, to succeed the charismatic Lula da Silva is victorious in Brazil’s 3 October presidential election.

Born in December 1947, of Bulgarian descent, Rousseff is Lula da Silva’s cabinet chief and undoubtedly the most influential of the president’s team, who personally handpicked her and has been her strongest promoter.

Following some initial doubts, since she only joined PT in 1986, the party’s convention on Saturday firmly closed ranks behind her, and lack of electoral experience is no longer an issue.

Described as a work alcoholic she also has an “explosive” temper and is known to have humiliated both ministers and her staff in meetings and sometimes in public. Vice President Jose Alencar one of her strongest supporters admits she’s a “tough character”.

However Lula da Silva argues that her efficiency in addressing administration issues and her political capacity convinced him she was the best name for the coming election.
Last April Dilma publicly admitted she had begun a chemo-therapy treatment for a lymphatic cancer but by September doctors said she had completely recovered. Ms Rousseff celebrated saying she no longer needed a wig.

The iron lady of Brazilian politics was brought up in an upper middle class family from Minas Gerais, strict Catholic education. She has a daughter Paula and besides economics likes to read about history and Greek mythology. Fond of opera she’s also considered an expert in Brazilian music

As a student, during the military dictatorship (1964/1985) she belonged to clandestine armed groups, Colina, (National Liberation Command) and VAR Palmares, the Armed Revolutionary Vanguard Palmares, although there’s some controversy as to how much she was really involved and if she effectively participated in armed attacks.

Arrested in Sao Paulo in 1970, she was sentenced to six years but by 1972 was out. Following her arrest and according to her confession she was repeatedly tortured to reveal names of other organization members.

In the early eighties she helped found the Brazilian Labour Party, PDT, from the legendary leader Leonel Brizola, former governor of Rio do Janerio and Rio Grande do Sul and one of the excuses for the 1964 military coup.

However in 1986 she joined Lula da Silva’s PT, but only came close to Lula da Silva in 2001 when he organized groups to elaborate government proposals for the 2002 election. She was specifically involved in the energy and power group.

“Here comes this comrade with a small computer in her hands, we begun discussing and I realized there was something different in her. Then I thought to myself ‘I think I’ve found my Energy minister’” recalls Lula da Silva about their first meeting.

Once elected president, Lula da Silva surprised everybody by naming Rousseff Energy minister whom she made responsible for reorganizing Brazil’s power system and modernizing the oil and gas sector.

The corruption scandal of 2005 pulverized the PT leadership following the disclosure of a clandestine accounting system to pay Congress members a “monthly due” (“mensalao”) in support for the Lula da Silva administration legislative program.

Lula da Silva then named her as cabinet chief and the first rumours about her possibilities of becoming the PT presidential candidate emerged in 2007, when Lula da Silva begun travelling Brazil with his cabinet chief next to him.

By April 3 she must have left government, according to electoral rules, and will have as her fiercest opponent Sao Paulo governor Jose Serra who is currently leading in vote intention public opinion polls.