Brazil elected its first female president: Dilma Roussef who fought against a brutal military regime [like that of Hun Xen's]
 |
| Dilma Rousseff was once one of most Brazil's most wanted fugitives, branded by some as a "subversive Joan of Arc." |
October 31, 2010
By Helena de Moura, CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Dilma Rousseff wins election Sunday; she'll take office January 1
- A former guerrilla fighter, said she never fired weapons
- She won recognition for handling of Brazil's energy resources
- She blends a left-wing agenda with penchant for pragmatic alliances
(CNN) -- Dilma Rousseff, who was elected as Brazil's first female president on Sunday, once told reporters that as a typical Brazilian girl in the 1950s she dreamed of becoming a ballerina.
But as the 1960s saw the emergence of a brutal military regime in her country, she had to make some hard choices.
"I quickly discovered that the world had no place for debutantes," Rousseff told reporters.
The daughter of a well-educated Bulgarian emigre, Rousseff took piano lessons as a child and was educated in a French-speaking Catholic school.
But as a fighter for Brazil's left-wing guerrilla movement in 1969, she exchanged a wedding dress for fatigues and went underground, taking on names such as Luiza, Wanda and Estela to avoid the authorities.
