Senate impeaches President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil

ABOVE PHOTO: People celebrate the impeachment of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016 after Brazil’s Senate on Wednesday voted to permanently remove Rousseff from office, 61-20, more than the 54 votes they needed. (AP Photo/Andr

Rousseff was tried for breaking fiscal responsibility laws in her management of the federal budget.   

Michel Temer has been sworn in as Brazil’s new leader following the ouster of President Dilma Rousseff. 

Brazil’s President Michel Temer gives the thumbs up before taking the presidential oath at the National Congress, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016. Temer was sworn in as Brazil’s new leader following the ouster of President Dilma Rousseff. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

“From today on, the expectations are much higher for the government. I hope that in these two years and four months, we do what we have declared — put Brazil back on track,” he said.

Temer also denied that the impeachment proceedings were a coup against Dilma Rousseff, like she claimed in her first remarks after being kicked out of power.

“Putschist is you,” he said, referring to Rousseff. “It’s you who is breaking the constitution.”

Temer said he will begin his visit to China Wednesday night for G20 meetings and spoke about bilateral meetings the leaders of Spain, Japan, Italy and Saudi Arabia have already requested.

“We are traveling precisely to reveal to the world that we have political and legal stability,” he said. “We have to show that there is hope in the country.”

The 75-year-old career politician had been acting president since May, when the Senate impeached and suspended Rousseff ahead of the trial to decide her fate.

Venezuela says it is freezing diplomatic relations with Brazil and withdrawing its ambassador in response to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s ouster in a Senate vote.

A statement from Caracas calls Rousseff’s impeachment and removal a “parliamentary coup” and says the withdrawal of its ambassador is “definitive.”

The statement argues that the political process against her violates democracy and Brazil’s constitution. It alleges it’s part of an “oligarchical and imperial attack” on leftist movements in Latin America.

Venezuela and Brazil have been part of a group of allied, leftist-led nations in the region in recent years. 

The ousted Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is firing back at the Senators who removed her from office.

She’s sent a tweet saying that “today is the day that 61 men, many of them charged and corrupt, threw 54 million Brazilian votes in the garbage.”

In her first remarks after being ousted as Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff vowed to form a strong opposition front against the new government.

In her words, “They think that they beat us, but they are wrong.”

She told followers at the presidential residence on Wednesday she’s form “the strongest, most tireless and most active opposition that a coup government could suffer.”

The overthrown leader maintained her innocence and used the word “coup” 14 times in her 12-minute speech. She said her ouster was an attack on “social movements and unions and against those who fight for their rights.”

Rousseff won re-election in 2014 with more than 54 million votes.

Brazil’s Senate had voted to permanently remove President Dilma Rousseff from office.

The decision is the culmination of a yearlong fight that paralyzed Latin America’s most powerful economy and exposed deep rifts among its people on everything from race relations to social spending.

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