Brazil’s interim president calls for “dialogue” after Rousseff ouster
May 13, 2016, 9:03 am

Vice President Michel Temer poses at the annex building of the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 11, 2016 [Xinhua]

The former vice president installed a new cabinet Thursday after the senate voted to unseat President Dilma Rousseff.

New Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles will hold a press conference on Friday to outline priorities of the new team. Meirelles was former Central Bank chief.

“Together we can overcome this moment of great difficulty. It is urgent to calm the nation and unify the nation, create a government of national salvation,” Temer said on Thursday.

Temer belongs to  the center-right PMDB party.

On Thursday, Temer announced a new cabinet where all 24 of his ministers are white men. Brazil has a majority black or mixed race population.

“We must rebuild the foundations of the Brazilian economy and significantly improve the business environment for the private sector so it can get back to its natural role of investing, producing and creating jobs,” Temer said.

The upper house of the Brazilian parliament voted 55-22 on Thursday to start impeachment proceedings against Rousseff after she was accused of concealing the country’s budget deficit ahead of the 2014 re-election.

Senator Jose Serra, the new Foreign Minister inducted in Temer’s Cabinet, said during Thursday’s vote that the impeachment was “a bitter medicine but necessary”.

Rousseff and Workers Part supporters have called the impeachment “a coup.”

Brazil’s first female leader has been suspended from office for 180 days, pending the trial. Vice-President Michel Temer has assumed presidency for that period.

Rousseff used her last speech from the presidential palace on Thursday to say she has made many mistakes but “committed no crimes”.

“What is at stake is respect for the ballot box, the sovereign will of the Brazilian people and the constitution,” she said.

Brazil’s BRICS partner Russia is closely following “developments in Brazil”, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

“Developments in Brazil are an internal affair; these processes must be resolved in strict compliance with their Constitution. Russia wants to see a stable, democratic, vibrant Brazil playing an important role in international affairs,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharov said at a press briefing in Moscow.

TBP and Agencies