An Interview with Dilma Rousseff

From the Washington Post:

Four weeks ago, Brazilians elected their first female president - Dilma Rousseff, the chosen candidate of Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, Brazil's popular outgoing president. Rousseff comes to power with an unusual background: She fought in the 1960s underground against the military regime that then ruled Brazil, and she was imprisoned and tortured between 1970 and 1972. She then started in local politics and joined Lula's government in 2002 as minister of mines and energy, eventually becoming his chief of staff. On Dec. 2, in her first lengthy interview since the vote, Rousseff spoke about her plans for the next four years.

Brazil: Dilma Rousseff President

From Forbes:

Brazil made history yesterday, when the country elected former chief of staff Dilma Rousseff as its President, making her the highest ranking woman and first female head of state there. She was handpicked as the candidate for the Workers’ Party by popular president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and beat out opponent Jose Serra in Sunday’s runoff election.

In her victory speech, she cited goals of eradicating poverty and improving gender equality. Rousseff has already made tremendous progress. In her posts as Minister of Energy and Chief of Staff, she helped 31 million Brazilians move into the middle class and saw 24 million escape poverty. Moreover, her presence at the top serves as an example for girls around the world. She joins Cristina Fernandez, the first elected female president in Argentina, and Costa Rica’s President Laura Chinchilla as another strong female leader in Latin America. She was named this year to our list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.

Brazil: Asylum For Iranian Women

From Eurasia Review:

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazilian President urged Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to allow his country to offer asylum to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman sentenced to stoning in Iran.

Reuters reports Lula da Silva stated that his offer of asylum to Mohammadi Ashtiani was in consideration of his esteem for his friendship with the Iranian president and an attempt at resolving a matter that could be a problematic issue for Iran.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is an Iranian woman whose stoning sentence in Iran for the charge of adultery has stirred international outrage.

While the media reports that her stoning sentence has been stopped, Iranian authorities claim that her execution sentence stands.

Brazil has enjoyed closer relationship with Iran following its attempt along with Turkey to broker a nuclear deal with Iran and their refusal to vote for the UN resolution against Iran in June.

Lula da Silva responded to a campaign in support of Sakineh Mohammadi last week saying that he cannot ask the leader of a country to disregard their country’s laws.