Lucia Bird and Ellen Jones – The Santiago Times, 11/11/2010
In different ways Brazil, Argentina and Chile deal with their human rights legacies
The election of Dilma Rousseff as Brazil’s first female president has prompted the reopening of human rights cases against military junta members who tortured her and others during Brazil’s military dictatorship of the 1970s.
Rousseff was involved with radical leftist urban guerrilla groups during the junta’s rule, though she denies being part of any of the violence ascribed to them. Rousseff, daughter of an upper middle-class Bulgarian lawyer, joined the guerrilla group following the 1964 coup d’état. She was captured and tortured between 1970 and 1972. One prison guard dubbed her “Joan of Arc,” in light of the frequent beatings and electric shocks she endured.
Following a dispute within the Democratic Labor Party, which she co-founded, Rousseff joined the Workers Party in 2000. She became energy minister in 2002, following President Lula da Silva’s election victory. In 2005, she quickly rose to become the first female chief of staff following the forced resignation of Jose Dirceu after a corruption crisis.
Brazil Portal 