Michel Temer sworn in as Brazil’s new president after Dilma ousted by Senate

Michel Temer has been sworn in as the new president of Brazil after Dilma Rousseff was stripped of the presidency by the Senate in an impeachment trial. Temer took an oath of office a few hours after the Senate voted 61-20 to remove Rousseff from office for breaking fiscal laws in her management of the federal budget.

  • Temer was accompanied by leaders of both chambers of Congress and his Cabinet. The 75-year-old career politician had been acting president since May, when the Senate impeached and suspended Rousseff ahead of the trial to decide her fate.  In his first address to the nation after being sworn in Michel Temer tasked his Cabinet with pushing forward budget and pension reforms as well as proposals to create jobs.
  • He  denied that the impeachment proceedings were a coup against Dilma Rousseff, like she claimed in her first remarks after being kicked out of power.
  • Rousseff was Brazil’s first female president, with a storied career that includes a stint as a Marxist guerrilla jailed and tortured in the 1970s during the country’s dictatorship. She was accused of breaking fiscal laws in her management of the federal budget
  • Mr. Temer said he will begin his visit to China for G20 meetings and spoke about bilateral meetings the leaders of Spain, Japan, Italy and Saudi Arabia have already requested.