Dilma Rousseff celebrated victory yesterday after she was elected Brazil’s first female president and vowed to uphold the legacy of her predecessor and mentor, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Rousseff, who served as Lula’s Cabinet chief before he handpicked her to succeed him in the runoff, choked up as she expressed her gratitude in a victory speech in Brasilia.
“The happiness I feel today for my win is mixed with sadness for his departure,” she said on Sunday. “The task of succeeding him is difficult and challenging, but I know I will honor this legacy and extend his work.”
“I will knock on his door often, and I know it will always be open,” she said.
Rousseff pledged to eradicate poverty at home, and lambasted the world’s leading economies for devaluing their monies in a “currency war” that was threatening the exports of Brazil and other countries.
CAREER BUREAUCRAT
A 62-year-old economist by training and a career bureaucrat, Rousseff was virtually unknown to Brazilians before Lula thrust her into the spotlight alongside him this year.
Thanks to his support, she quickly became the favorite in the race that pitted her against -opposition rival Jose Serra, former state governor of Sao Paulo.
Although Lula’s project to have her elected tottered in the Oct. 3 first round, when she failed to win the expected majority needed to avert Sunday’s runoff, it got back on track for the runoff.
Rousseff picked up 56 percent of the vote to Serra’s 44 percent, according to an official tally of all ballots by the High Electoral Tribunal.
She will take charge of Latin America’s biggest economy on Jan. 1, when Lula, 65, is required to step down, having completed the maximum two consecutive terms permitted by law.
Lula has not said what he plans to do. He is retiring with a popularity rating above 80 percent and a high global profile.
SPECULATION
Speculation is swirling that he might accept an international post, or stand by as an informal advisor to Rousseff as she runs the country, though he has downplayed those scenarios.
“There is no possibility of an ex-president participating in a government,” Lula said when he voted on Sao Paulo’s outskirts, where he started out as a factory metalworker and union leader.
Rousseff will have “to form a government in her image. I only hope that she does more than I did,” he said.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RSS