Dilma Says 'Coup Has Taken Brazil Off Course'

Senatorial candidate and former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has stated that the parliamentary "coup" committed against her in 2016 "has taken Brazil away from its course."

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"Since that coup d'état, a state of emergency has been installed in the country that threatens democracy and persecutes our main political leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva," Dilma affirmed.

The fact "that he remains imprisoned due to a flawed process without evidence," effectively barred from running in the October presidential election is proof of this. "Brazil faces a long path on the road to rebuilding," Dilma told El Pais in an interview. 

Concerning her return to the political battlefield just two years after her impeachment, she said that she "never stopped doing politics."

"Since the coup d'état, the country has become the victim of a conspiracy, carefully planned and executed by the Brazilian Social Democracy Party and its allies of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, as well as the means of communication of a financial elite without commitment to the people."

The only way to "eliminate the harmful effects of this coup, we have to go to the polls," Rousseff insisted.

The latest poll conducted by DataTempo/CP2 revealed that Rousseff leads the senatorial race in the state of Minas Gerais with 26.8 percent of the vote. Her nearest rival, journalist Carlos Viana of the Humanist Party of Solidarity, or PHS, polled in second place with 11.2 percent of the vote.

When asked why run for a Senate seat in the state of Minas Gerais, Rousseff responded "I grew up here and I became politically and socially conscious here when I was a youth. This is where I started advocating against the military dictatorship at the end of the sixties."

Rousseff was impeached, in what many legal experts consider to be a “parliamentary coup.” She often reminds followers of the misogynistic fervor that accompanied her removal from office. “Dilma is a harsh woman— men are firm; Dilma is emotionally unstable — men are sensible," she tweeted.

“I was (considered) 'obsessive-compulsive with work' — men are dynamic and hard-workers. The misogyny game is well-employed by those who use it,” she added.

The former head of state also pointed out that some advisors, fearing that she would be disrespected and personally afflicted by her accusers, insisted that she not attend the Senate debate and vote that consecrated her impeachment last year.

“I made a huge effort not to allow it to diminish, paralyze or torment me,” she wrote, adding that an internal private campaign played a significant role in her removal from office.