Dilma Rousseff Dilma Rousseff Dilma Vana Rousseff (, often known mononymously as Dilma; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th President of Brazil, holding the position from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016, becoming the first democratically-elected female president in the world to be impeached and removed. She was the first woman to hold the Brazilian presidency and had previously served as Chief of Staff to former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from 2005 to 2010. The daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant, Rousseff was raised in an
Dilma Rousseff Secretary of Energy of Rio Grande do Sul under both Collares and Olívio Dutra. In 2000, after an internal dispute in the Dutra cabinet, she left the PDT and joined the Workers' Party (PT). In 2002, Rousseff became an energy policy advisor to presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who on winning the election invited her to become his minister of energy. Chief of Staff José Dirceu resigned in 2005 in a political crisis triggered by the Mensalão corruption scandal. Rousseff became chief of staff and remained in that post until 31 March 2010, when she stepped down to