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Brazil & Southern Cone - May 2015 (ISSN 1741-4431)

Rousseff opts for increasingly low profile

For the first time since television was introduced to Brazil in the 1950s, the president did not requisition a channel on 1 May, the Labour Day national holiday, to address the country’s “workers”. Similarly, Dilma Rousseff decided to absent herself from the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) hour-long advertisement on 5 May, leaving the promotion of the government to former president Lula da Silva (2003-2010) and party president Rui Falcão. Rousseff was also scheduled to attend an event to mark the 70^th anniversary of VE day in Rio de Janeiro but withdrew at the last minute. In all these cases, the reason for her absence appears to be a fear of provoking protests. Opposition supporters in many of Brazil’s major cities have taken to greeting Rousseff’s appearances on TV with panelaços, banging of pots and pans.

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