In an article posted today, the BBC presents an overview of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff. After giving a brief description of her political career prior to assuming office, the author focuses on her two years as president.
What emerges is a portrait of a leader who is a highly capable administrator, described as "tough," "firm," and "impatient." Her agriculture minister recounts a story about a meeting in which several people were debating ways to confront the drought that has faced Brazilian farmers. After listening for a while, Dilma announced that the group had one hour to solve the problem, and then she left the room. While she extended her deadline, she made it clear that they were expected to find a solution, no matter what.
In spite of Dilma's extremely high approval ratings (59% at the time the article was written), some see her as less politically astute than her predecessors. The article cites several problems: her "tense" relations with Congress, in spite of the fact that her ruling coalition has solid control; a rash of scandals that required the dismissal of six of her ministers; and her support of the construction of hydro-electric dams in the Amazon rainforest, opposed by environmentalists.
The author also discusses the slowdown in the growth of Brazil's GDP as another challenge that faces Dilma. But he explains that the country's unemployment rate remains low, at just under 6%, which no doubt explains her continued popularity.
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