Portrait of Michel Temer
Politician · person
Wikipedia (opens in new tab)

Michel Temer on Dilma Rousseff

Coup participant acknowledgement (strong)

TL;DR

Michel Temer eventually admitted the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff was a coup while denying direct participation in orchestrating it.

Key Points

  • In September 2019, Michel Temer referred to the 2016 impeachment of Dilma Rousseff as a "coup" during a television interview.

  • Temer stated he did not support or commit to the 'coup,' but noted the impeachment would have been avoided if Lula da Silva had joined Rousseff's government.

  • After Rousseff's suspension in May 2016, Temer, as interim president, called for national unity and signaled a shift toward business-friendly economic policies.

Summary

Michel Temer, who succeeded Dilma Rousseff as President of Brazil following her 2016 impeachment, later acknowledged that the process constituted a 'coup' in a 2019 interview. Despite this admission, Temer insisted he had never supported or committed to the coup, claiming he even tried to stop it from happening. He suggested that if former President Lula da Silva had been allowed to serve as Rousseff's Chief of Staff, the impeachment might have been avoided. Earlier, upon taking office, Temer and his allies framed the ouster as a legal necessity to move Brazil past an economic crisis and implement his 'Bridge to the future' ultra-neoliberal agenda, which Rousseff had refused to enact. Rousseff countered that Temer’s admission confirmed the illegal nature of the event, noting that the underlying motive for the coup was to install that specific neoliberal policy platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

Michel Temer's public position evolved over time. Initially, as her Vice President, his party supported the process that suspended her. Later, Temer publicly admitted that Rousseff's impeachment was a 'coup' rather than a strictly legal process. However, he simultaneously denied any personal commitment to orchestrating it.

Yes, his stance appears to have changed significantly, at least in terminology. While he previously implied the impeachment was constitutional after taking over, years later he explicitly labeled it a 'coup.' Despite this, he consistently denied direct personal involvement in the alleged coup plot.

Temer once suggested that the former president was impeached for refusing to implement his proposed economic agenda, known as 'Ponte para o futuro' (Bridge to the future). He maintained that the legal grounds cited for the impeachment were weak compared to the policy disagreements.