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Rousseff Fights For Survival At Trial by Ubongusoro(m): 6:46pm On Aug 29, 2016 |
Brazil's suspended President Dilma Rousseff
has defended her record during her
impeachment trial in the Senate.
She is accused of illegally manipulating the
budget to hide a growing deficit.
Ms Rousseff said her conscience was "absolutely
clean" and that she had not committed any
crime.
Senators are due to vote later this week on
whether to remove her from office for good or
whether to reinstate her.
Ms Rousseff is accused of moving funds
between government budgets, which is illegal
under Brazilian law.
Her critics say she was trying to plug deficit
holes in popular social programmes to boost her
chances of being re-elected for a second term in
October 2014.
Brazil impeachment: Key questions
What has gone wrong in Brazil?
Profile; Dilma Rousseff
Profile: Acting President Michel Temer
'Fighting on'
Ms Rousseff began her defence by reminding
senators that she had been re-elected by more
than 54 million voters.
She said she had always honoured and upheld
the Constitution.
She also reminded senators of her past as a
resistance fighter who opposed military rule.
She said that even when she was tortured she
continued to fight.
Her fight, she said, had been for a more equal
society and that the achievements of her
government in that field were now "at risk".
She added that she was determined to continue
her fight against the attacks against her, which
she said amounted to a "coup".
Ms Rousseff said she had been "unjustly
accused" of crimes she said she had not
committed. "I can't help but taste the bitterness
of injustice," she said.
'Vote for democracy!'
She also warned of the dangers she said the
interim government of acting President Michel
Temer posed.
Ms Rousseff said Mr Temer's administration
would limit public spending and act in the
interest of a small economic elite.
"The future of Brazil is at stake," she said.
She ended her defence by again talking about
her time in captivity, briefly choking with
emotion when she mentioned the torture she
had endured "for days on end".
She thanked those senators who had fought for
her to be cleared of the charges before asking
those who were opposed to her to "vote against
the impeachment, vote for democracy!".
Senators from her Workers' Party stood up and
applauded once she had finished, while her
opponents sat in their seats stony-faced.
Brazilian media focuses on "coup" line
Many of Brazil's news media set up live pages
online to allow their readers to follow Monday's
impeachment proceedings in the Senate.
Newspapers O Estado de Sao Paulo and O
Globo, and news magazines Carta Capita l and
Veja , all highlighted the same line from Ms
Rousseff's address in which she warned that
Brazil "was one step away from a coup".
Daily Folha de Sao Paulo on the other hand
picked out Ms Rousseff's final appeal to
Senators: "I ask you to vote against the
impeachment and for democracy".
Many Brazilian papers also quoted Ms Rousseff's
line that those backing her impeachment were
putting Brazil's democracy at risk through "moral
violence and [by using a] constitutional pretext".
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from
TV, radio, web and print media around the
world.
For her to be removed from the presidency
permanently, 54 of the 81 senators would have
to vote for her impeachment.
Brazilian daily Folha de Sao Paulo says it has
spoken to all the senators ahead of the vote and
that 52 have so far declared themselves in
favour of the impeachment.
Eighteen told the newspaper they were opposed
to the impeachment and 11 either did not say
which way they would vote or were undecided.
Divided opinion
If Ms Rousseff, 68, is impeached, acting
President Michel Temer will serve out her term,
which ends in December 2018.
Mr Temer, who was Ms Rousseff's vice-
president, assumed the role of acting president
in May when Ms Rousseff was suspended from
office pending the impeachment trial. bbc.co.uk |
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