Brazil ex-president calls impeachment of Rousseff a ‘coup’

By iNFOTEL
September 17 2019 10:24 AM

CP280845138 — FILE - In this Jan. 1, 2011 file photo, Brazil\'s President Dilma Rousseff, right, raises arms with her Vice President Michel Temer at the end of her swearing-in ceremony at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil. Temer surprised Brazilians on Monday, Sept. 16, 2019 by referring to the 2016 impeachment of Rousseff as a “coup” for the first time. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File)

RIO DE JANEIRO – Former President Michel Temer has surprised Brazilians by referring to the impeachment of his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, as a “coup” for the first time.

Temer said on TV Cultura Monday night that he had “never supported or made a commitment to the coup” and had even tried to stop it.

Rousseff’s backers have long called her 2016 ouster a “coup” while her foes insisted it was a justified impeachment vote to oust her.

Rousseff has said the impeachment was a manoeuvr by political rivals to get into power after more than a decade of leftist Workers’ Party rule.

She was accused of improperly manipulating the budget and was replaced by then-Vice-President Temer, whose party played a key role in Rousseff’s ouster.

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