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1st LD Writethru: Temer sworn in as president of Brazil, Rousseff vows resistance

Xinhua, September 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

A few short hours after Dilma Rousseff was impeached as president of Brazil, her former vice-president and political ally-turned-enemy, Michel Temer, was sworn in as her successor.

At a special session of Congress, after the playing of the national anthem, Temer was sworn in. He was surrounded by the president of the Supreme Court, Ricardo Lewandowski, the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, and the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia.

Temer will serve as president until Dec,31, 2018.

The new president did not make a speech but has already recorded an address to be broadcast live to the nation Wednesday evening.

Temer twitted on his account, saying that "I swear to uphold, defend and fulfill the Constitution, observe its laws, promote the well-being of the Brazilian people, sustain the union, integrity and independence of Brazil."

After the swearing-in ceremony, Temer was set to host his first cabinet meeting as full president. After this, he is to fly to China, where he will participate in a number of events, culminating in the G-20 Summit, to be held in Hangzhou on Sept. 4-5.

Shortly before the swearing-in, Dilma Rousseff vowed "a firm and energetic resistance against the putschist government."

Speaking from the presidential palace, accompanied by allied politicians and union leaders, Rousseff said the Senate "had taken a decision which enters into the history of great injustices."

"They condemned an innocent and validated a parliamentary coup. Politicians seeking to desperately escape from the grasp of Justice appropriated power through a coup d'etat," she emphasized.

Rousseff added this was the second coup she had faced after the military coup of 1964 which she resisted as a young woman.

According to the former leader, the government of President Michel Temer would attack the rights "to work, a fair retirement, housing, land, health, education and culture, the rights of young people, blacks, indigenous, LGBT people, and the right to protest without being repressed."

However, she vowed that the political work begun in the government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2002-2010) "is not over. We will not return to satisfy our desires and vanities, we will return to continue our quest for a Brazil where the people rule." Endit