Dilma Rousseff swears in:

First woman to rule Brazil

BRAZIL: Dilma Rousseff took over as Brazil’s first female President Saturday with pledges to build on the policies of her hugely popular predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The 63-year-old divorced grandmother, who was Lula’s former Cabinet Chief, assumed the Presidency in a carefully staged ceremony under at times rainy skies.

A 1952 Rolls-Royce convertible took her along streets lined with an estimated 70,000 well-wishers.

As the rain lifted, the car’s roof came down and she stood up in the back, dressed in white and waving to people brandishing flags and umbrellas.

She then embraced Lula at the Presidential palace, receiving from him the green-and-gold official sash before giving her first speech to the nation.

“I will look after the most vulnerable. I will govern for all Brazilians,” she said in the televised address from the palace’s balcony after the rain stopped.

Lula himself pointedly left her alone in the spotlight, save for a brief heartfelt hug.

Required to step down after serving the maximum two consecutive terms permitted under Brazil’s constitution, Lula has not said what he plans to do in retirement.

But he commented weeks ago that he was a “natural born politician” who would not rule out maybe trying to return to the Presidency after Rousseff’s four-year mandate was over, depending on the performance of the woman he helped get elected.

Afterward, he flew to Sao Paulo, to see his former Vice President, Jose Alencar, in hospital where he was suffering intestinal bleeding from cancer he has long been suffering.

From there, he went to his home in the town of Sao Bernardo do Campo, where 1,000 residents were waiting to hail the return of their local hero.

In her swearing-in speech before Brazil’s Congress, Rousseff repeatedly paid homage to her mentor, calling him a “great man” and vowing to maintain his legacy, notably in reducing poverty and promoting economic prosperity.

“The most determined struggle will be to eradicate extreme poverty,” she said, declaring: “We can be a more developed and fairer country.”

Rousseff outlined plans for tax reforms, environmental protection, improved health services, regional development — and unspecified measures to combat foreign “speculation” that could upset Brazil’s economic growth.

After the speeches, Rousseff greeted dozens of foreign leaders, most of them presidents from neighboring South American nations.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who once held presidential ambitions herself, was among the dignitaries, speaking with Rousseff just before Venezuela’s anti-US President Hugo Chavez came up to do likewise.

AFP