More than a week of massive, violent protests across Brazil invited only stoic silence Friday from President Dilma Rousseff, even after she had called an emergency meeting with a top Cabinet member in response to the growing unrest.
Trying to decipher the president’s reaction to the unrest has become a national guessing game, especially after about 1 million anti-government demonstrators took to the streets the night before across the country to denounce everything from poor public services to the billions of dollars spent preparing for next year’s World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
The protests continued Friday, as about 1,000 people marched in western Rio de Janeiro city, with some invading an enormous $250 million arts center that remains empty after several years of work. Police tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas, as helicopters buzzed overhead.
Other protests broke out in the country’s biggest city, Sao Paulo, and the northeastern Brazilian city of Fortaleza, and demonstrators were calling for mobilizations in 10 cities for today.
At least one protester was killed in Sao Paulo state Thursday night when a driver apparently became enraged about being unable to travel along a street and rammed his car into demonstrators. News reports also said a 54-year-old cleaning woman had died Friday after inhaling tear gas the night before while taking cover in a restored trolley car.
The National Conference of Brazilian Bishops came out in favor of the protests, saying that it maintains “solidarity and support for the demonstrations, as long as they remain peaceful.”
“This is a phenomenon involving the Brazilian people and the awakening of a new consciousness,” church leaders said in the statement. “The protests show all of us that we cannot live in a country with so much inequality.”
Rousseff, a former Marxist rebel who fought against Brazil’s 1964-85 military regime, had never held elected office before she became president in 2011 and remains clearly uncomfortable in the spotlight.
She’s the political protege of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a charismatic ex-union leader whose tremendous popularity helped usher his former chief of staff to the country’s top office. A career technocrat and trained economist, Rousseff’s tough managerial style under Lula earned her the moniker “the Iron Lady,” a name she has said she detests.
While Rousseff has stayed away from the public eye, Roberto Jaguaribe, the nation’s ambassador to Britain, told CNN on Friday the government was first trying to contain the protests.
He labeled as “very delicate” the myriad demands emanating from protesters in the streets.
Brazil watchers outside the country were also puzzled by the government’s silence, although Peter Hakim, president emeritus at the U.S.-based Inter-American Dialogue think-tank, said he appreciated the complicated political picture, especially with protests flaring in areas where the president is unpopular.
“Rousseff is trying to get her ducks in a row before taking action,” Hakim said. “The government is waiting to gain some understanding, but it’s unusual that there has not been a major speech by Dilma, in which she could say that Brazil has come a long way but admit it’s got a long way to go. This is a puzzle in the midst of huge labyrinth maze and she can’t figure out the best direction to take.”
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