21 September 2012
Last updated at 10:13 GMT
By Joao Fellet
BBC Brasil, Brasilia
Dilma Rousseff was elected
as Brazil's first woman president in October 2010, taking over from the
charismatic and popular Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In the two years
since then, she has proved a popular leader, despite a very different
style to her predecessor.
One August morning, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff
summoned three of her ministers to discuss ways to help the country's
farmers, suffering from the effects of bad weather.
One of those taking part, Agriculture Minister Mendes Ribeiro, says the president became impatient as the debate wore on.
"She told us: 'You have one hour to solve this problem,' and then left the room.
"She agreed to extend the deadline, but there was no way we would be allowed to fail to work it out," says Mr Ribeiro.
He describes the president as a "very precise and direct leader".
He adds: "She usually does not like to postpone decisions and never accepts unfinished solutions."
This tough approach is seen as a major feature of her administration, which will be two years old in January.
Last month, a photograph published in the Brazilian press
showed the president reading a reply to a hand-written note she had sent
to two ministers.
The president's irate message - over a contentious environmental policy - was rather embarrassingly visible on the other side.
She had asked her ministers: "Why are the newspapers saying
that there was an agreement in Congress yesterday on the Forest Code and
I do not know anything?"
International recognition
Her image as a firm leader, combined with the country's
economic stability, have given President Rousseff a personal approval
rating of 59%.
That is the highest for a Brazilian president since 1989,
when the country held its first direct elections after two decades of
military dictatorship.
Ms Rousseff has also attracted attention abroad.
In August, Ms Rousseff was pictured on
the cover of business magazine Forbes, which rated her as the third
most powerful woman in the world after Germany's Chancellor Angela
Merkel and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Ms Rousseff, 64, began her political activism in the 1960s,
joining a clandestine left-wing group which organised armed resistance
to the country's military dictatorship, although she says she was never
involved in any acts of violence.
Arrested by the police, she was tortured for 22 days and then detained for nearly three years.
After the return of democracy, she began a political career
and caught the eye of then-President da Silva - popularly known as Lula -
who appointed her first as his minister of mines and energy, and later
his chief of staff.
Seven years later, he personally chose her to succeed him as
the Workers' Party presidential candidate, despite the fact she had
never contested an election.
Lula da Silva had developed a high profile on the world stage
in his quest to carve out a bigger role for Brazil on the world stage.
Ms Rousseff, by contrast, is seen as a low-key politician, more focused on domestic issues.
"By travelling less and showing greater concern about
managing the country, she soon got the sympathy of the middle class,
something that Lula took much longer to achieve," says Mauro Paulino,
director of the Datafolha research institute.
Her administration has had a tougher time on the economic front, however.
In 2011, Brazil's GDP increased by 2.7% and it is expected to
grow less than 2% this year, the lowest rate since 2009, and a sharp
decline from the 7.5% rise in 2010.
But Ricardo Ismael, professor of social sciences at the
Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, says the economic downturn has
not affected her popularity because unemployment - at just below 6% -
remains at its lowest level ever.
There has been some support from
business leaders. Her role in the Central Bank's decision to cut
Brazil's interest rate by five points - until then it had been the
highest in the world - was considered crucial.
More recently, she announced measures to increase the role of
private investors in the Brazilian economy by privatising roads,
railways, ports and airports.
Her rule has, however, been marred by political scandals. The
president was forced to fire six ministers for unethical conduct or
allegations of corruption, including the transport minister last year.
Some of these ministers were Lula appointees and the changes,
according to analysts, allowed the president to build a government
better reflecting her character.
However her critics believe she has maintained some of the worst aspects of the previous administration.
"She kept the political model negotiated by former President
Lula, which exhausts the financial power of the Brazilian state," says
Senator Alvaro Dias, of the opposition social democratic party, the
PSDB.
"It requires public posts to be created for the appointees of political allies.
"As a result of the huge ruling coalition, opposition is
limited. We were numerically reduced to be the smallest opposition in
Latin America, even smaller than in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela."
Maintaining the broad coalition set up by Lula da Silva has
not prevented Ms Rousseff from losing some major disputes in the
Parliament.
Tense relationship
A major defeat occurred when Congress approved new rules
defining the balance between environmental conservation and agricultural
development, known as the Forest Code.
Her tense relationship with Congress, despite the
government's majority, has prompted some critics to say that, although a
good administrator, Ms Rousseff lacks the political skills to be
president.
She has also been heavily criticised for defending the construction of hydro-electric dams in the Amazon rainforest.
According to activists, the dams are both bad for the
environment and indigenous communities in the region, while the
president believes they are vital part of economic growth.
Last year, she said eradicating extreme poverty by 2014 would be her government's "most determined fight".
According to Social Development Minister Tereza Campello, Ms
Rousseff closely follows all the government's programmes to help
Brazil's poorest citizens.
"She checks all the time if we are achieving the goals. She
has a very good memory, remembers figures mentioned in previous meetings
and always carries a laptop to compare data," Ms Campello says.
In a recent meeting with farmers, Ms Rousseff was introduced
to a man who had learned to read, received seeds from a government
agency, and whose home had been connected to the electric grid.
But when he smiled, the president noted that several teeth in his mouth were missing.
"When he opened his mouth, the president immediately looked
at me," recalls Ms Campello. "I got the message - we still needed to
make sure he had access to the government's dental programme."
The man might have been happy, but President Rousseff, it seemed, was not.
