In Brazil, suspended President Dilma Rousseff joined protesters in Rio de Janeiro denouncing what they consider a coup against her. Congress suspended Rousseff purportedly for manipulating budget accounts, but leaked transcripts showed at least one official plotted to oust Rousseff in order to end a corruption investigation that was targeting him. Brazil’s political crisis has coincided with protests over the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl by more than 30 men. On Thursday, Rousseff addressed the Women’s March for Democracy.
Dilma Rousseff: “We know that what happened here was a gang rape. And at the same time, one of the elite country clubs has clearly shown its prejudice against a nanny, prohibiting her from sitting or from using the bathroom. This culture of rape against women, and at the same time this culture of social exclusion, is something that we know needs to be defeated.”
Rousseff was Brazil’s first woman president. Her replacement, Michel Temer, appointed an all-male Cabinet.