Who is Dilma Rousseff?

Who is Dilma Rousseff? She is about to become the first female president of Latin America's largest nation, Brazil, today when she is sworn into office. She has huge shoes to fill when she replaces Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, better known to his people as Lulu.

Rousseff is a twice divorced 62 year old mother of one, the daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant, a school teacher and a former Marxist guerrilla. She was just 19 years old when she joined a militant political group and for three years she lead guerrilla organizations and instructed comrades on the Marxist theory although she denies that she carried out any acts of violence. She was captured during the 1970's and tossed into the Tiradentes prison where she endured brutal torturing by the police. She is also a cancer survivor.

Rousseff says that her political thinking is now "pragmatic capitalism" as opposed to Marxism and she goes on to admit, "We have a dream to build a better Brazil."

Just what will a better Brazil look like to the rest of the world? For starters, a woman at the helm will welcome the 2014 World Cup and is expected to be the world's fifth-largest economy by the time the 2016 Olympics come to the nation" according to Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue.

Just what is in store for Ms. Rousseff in 2011 as she becomes Brazil's first female President is anyone's guess. The fact remains that Brazil's economy seems to be booming while the United States continues to slide into the toilet.

There is one interesting note in all of this - while the U.S. continues the debate on off-shore drilling, Brazil plans to develop massive new offshore oil fields in the coming decade.

Will the day dawn that we are dependent upon Brazil for oil? Let's hope not.

Source:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70015620110101

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/01/world/americas/01brazil.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12103312

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110101/brazil-rouseeff-sworn-in-110101/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/01/world/main7010111.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilma_Rousseff