Brazil elects its first woman president

[Meshuga]

It is a done deal. Rousseff wins with over 50 million votes.

http://oglobo.globo.com/pais/eleicoes2010/mat/2010/10/31/dilma-rousseff-eleita-presidente-do-brasil-922915759.asp

[dipsydoodle]

1. Sit on that

too Kissenger.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Congrats, Meshuga, to you and your wife! Good news for the whole world.

It's certainly going to be good for Brazil.

This is wonderful news.

Congrats, too, to Commie Pinko Dirtbag, if he sees this thread.d

Thanks for making it official! Hope she will be healthy, and safe throughout.

[rabs]

3. Parabéns Brasil! n/t

[Judi Lynn]

4. Dilma Rousseff: From fugitive guerrilla to Brazil's new president

Dilma Rousseff: From fugitive guerrilla to Brazil's new president
By Helena de Moura, CNN
October 31, 2010 10:53 p.m. EDT

http://i.cdn.turner.com.nyud.net:8090/cnn/2010/WORLD/americas/10/31/brazil.winner.profile/t1larg.dilma.rousseff2.gi.jpg

Dilma Rousseff was once one of most Brazil's most wanted fugitives, branded by some as a
"subversive Joan of Arc."

(CNN) -- Dilma Rousseff, who was elected as Brazil's first female president on Sunday, once told reporters that as a typical Brazilian girl in the 1950s she dreamed of becoming a ballerina.

But as the 1960s saw the emergence of a brutal military regime in her country, she had to make some hard choices.

"I quickly discovered that the world had no place for debutantes," Rousseff told reporters.

The daughter of a well-educated Bulgarian emigre, Rousseff took piano lessons as a child and was educated in a French-speaking Catholic school.

More:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/31/brazil.winner.profile/index.html?hpt=C1

[Judi Lynn]

5. I've heard of the torture device they used on this President-elect.

It's mentioned in the article in the following:

When the military finally arrested her in 1970, Rousseff, now 62, says she was severely tortured in order to give up secrets.

She told Istoe magazine in 2008 that as a prisoner she was often tied up to the infamous "parrot's perch," a torture device used by Brazil's military police in which the victim is suspended between two metal platforms.

"They gave me electrical shocks, a lot of electrical shocks," Rousseff told Istoe. "I began to hemorrhage, but I withstood. I wouldn't even tell them where I lived," she said.

http://www.brazzil.com.nyud.net:8090/images/stories/2004/nov04/parrots_perch_torture.jpg


""Tortura nunca mais" (Torture never again)
This is a monument constructed by the human rights group "TORTURA NUNCA MAIS." This monument depicts the atrocity of torture showing a victim of the "pau de arrara," the infamous "parrot's perch" torture rack, widely used in Brazil during the Military dictatorial regime in the late 60’s and 70’s."

Wikipedia:
Torture technique
Pau de arara can also refer to a physical torture technique designed to cause severe joint and muscle pain, as well as headaches, and psychological trauma. The technique consists of a tube, bar, or pole placed over the victim's biceps and behind the knees while tying the victim's both ankles and wrists together. The entire assembly is suspended between two metal platforms forming what looks like a parrot's perch.

This technique is believed to originate from Portuguese slave traders, which used Pau de arara as a form of punishment for disobedient slaves. Its usage has been more recently widespread by the agents of the political police of the Brazilian military dictatorship against political dissidents in the 1960s and 1970s and it still believed to be in use by Brazilian police forces<1>, although outlawed<1>. The device was often used as a restraint for a combination of other torture techniques, such as water boarding, nail pulling, branding, electric shocks, and sexual torture.

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

[dipsydoodle]

6. Nice picture

She sure don't look 62.:eyes:

[era veteran]

7. I think she will be good for Brazil

Congrats

[Peace Patriot]

8. Workers' Party, former guerrilla, tortured by the fascists, a woman-wow! Just wow!

:bounce: :applause: :bounce:

[social_critic]

9. Hopefully she will listen to Lula

Who turned out to be pretty good. It would be sad to see Brazil adopt a radical agenda similar to say Venezuela´s. That would stop progress, which has been excellent in recent years.