President of Brazil 
October 14, 2011 | Posted by Owner | Filed under Brazil, State Leaders 

Dilma Rousseff 

Date of Birth: 14 December 1947 
Birth Place: Belo Horizonte, Brazil 
Political Party: Workers' Party 
Arrival in Power: 1 January 2011 
Religion: Roman Catholic 
Profession: Economist

Biography

Dilma Rousseff was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in 1947. She is the current President of Brazil and the first female to hold this post in the history of Brazil. She studied Economics at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. 

Before beginning her professional career and conducting her university studies, she was involved in left-wing resistance movements, against the military government of the 1960's, she was eventually arrested for her involvement in guerilla activities. She was released from prison in 1972, and eventually graduated from university in 1977. Following her graduation she served in several functions related to the field of economics and tied to the government of the province of Rio Grande do Sul. Following this she would serve in several more prominent positions in the municipal and state levels, she served as the Secretary of Energy for the province of Rio Grande do Sul. 

In 2003 she was appointed as the Minister of Mines and Energy for Brazil by then president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. During her time in this position she is credited with expanding Brazil's electrical capacity as well as increasing access to electricity. She also implemented rules that required Petrobras to build it's drilling rigs domestically and other vessels, which created a new shipbuilding industry in Brazil and created tens of thousands of jobs. In 2005 she became the Chief of Staff to da Silva, a position she held until her bid to the presidency in 2010. She went on to win the presidential elections and was became the first female President of Brazil on January 1st 2011. 

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Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilma_Rousseff