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Rousseff impeachment: Brazil Senate in marathon debate Rousseff impeachment: Brazil Senate in marathon debate
(about 3 hours later)
Brazil's Senate is debating whether President Dilma Rousseff should face a full impeachment trial.Brazil's Senate is debating whether President Dilma Rousseff should face a full impeachment trial.
If a simple majority votes in favour, as is expected, Ms Rousseff will be automatically suspended from office.If a simple majority votes in favour, as is expected, Ms Rousseff will be automatically suspended from office.
Ms Rousseff made a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court to stop proceedings, but the move was rejected.Ms Rousseff made a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court to stop proceedings, but the move was rejected.
The president is accused of illegally manipulating finances to hide a growing public deficit ahead of her re-election in 2014, which she denies.The president is accused of illegally manipulating finances to hide a growing public deficit ahead of her re-election in 2014, which she denies.
Eleven hours after the debate started, half of the 70 senators who had registered to speak had had their say. Of those 35, 28 spoke in favour of an impeachment trial and seven against. Having their say
Senator Fatima Bezerra from Ms Rousseff's Workers's Party said she would "vote against this farce". A lengthy debate is under way which precedes the actual vote.
"Those who back this coup d'etat won't ever be forgiven," she warned. There are a total of 81 senators in the upper house. Seventy-one registered to speak during the debate and each has been given 15 minutes for their speech.
The other senators four senators from other parties who opposed the impeachment. Only after all of them have had their say will the electronic vote take place.
They were Temario Mota of the Democratic Workers' Party, Randolfe Rodrigues of REDE, Roberto Requiao of the PMDB and Vanessa Grazziotin of the Communist Party of Brazil. At 00:35 local time (03:35GMT), 45 senators had spoken.
Senator Grazziotin said the impeachment was just a pretext to put an end to the social programmes Ms Rousseff's Workers' Party had brought in. Of those, 34 backed the impeachment trial in their speeches, 10 rejected it and one did not give an indication as to how he would vote.
Senator Mota had earlier said that "this impeachment was born of revenge, hatred and revenge". Thirty senators have yet to speak, and latest estimates as to when the vote may happen range from 04:00 to 06:00 local time (07:00GMT to 09:00GMT).
But the senators speaking out in favour of the impeachment were many more. The exact time is difficult to predict as not all senators take the full 15 minutes, while others run over and are told off by Senate leader Renan Calheiros.
The session has been a lot less passionate than that in the lower house on 17 April in which a overwhelming majority of the 513 lawmakers voted in favour of the impeachment proceedings going ahead.
The members of the lower house cited all kinds of reason for their decision with many saying they were doing if "for my family", "for God" or simply "the country".
'Us vs them'
In the Senate, the arguments given for the impeachment trial have been mainly economic.
Many blamed President Rousseff for the dire straits the country's economy is in.
Brazil is suffering from its worst recession in 10 years, unemployment reached 9% in 2015 and inflation is at a 12-year high.
Senator Aecio Neves, who lost to Ms Rousseff in the 2014 presidential election, said: "Populist governments always act with fiscal irresponsibility and when they fail they appeal to the old 'us vs them' argument."
"The poorest and most vulnerable in society, who need the government support the most, always end up paying the bill," he added.
Mr Neves said he would vote for an impeachment trial.
Ataides Oliveira of the opposition PSDB party said that "today, we're going to retrieve the country from the hands of the PT (Ms Rousseff's Workers' Party) and give it back to the Brazilian people".
Former football player turned senator Romario said Brazil was in "a very serious crisis" before revealing that "after much thought" he had decided to back her impeachment trial.
Senator Alvaro Dias said that "they [the government] have already stolen so much from us, don't let them steal our hope for a better future".Senator Alvaro Dias said that "they [the government] have already stolen so much from us, don't let them steal our hope for a better future".
Among those who backed the impeachment trial was Aecio Neves, who lost to Ms Rousseff in the 2014 presidential election. 'Revenge'
He said Ms Rousseff had led the country into its worst crisis in more than a century. Those arguing against the impeachment trial said it was tantamount to a coup d'etat.
Earlier, former football player Romario, who is now a senator for the Brazilian Socialist Party, also referred to Brazil's economic problems, calling it "a very serious crisis". Senator Telmario Mota said that "today we are seeing an attempted takeover of power which calls itself impeachment".
One of the most passionate speakers in favour of the impeachment trial was Magno Malta of the Party of the Republic. He added that the impeachment proceedings were "born of revenge, hatred and revenge".
He compared the government of Ms Rousseff to "gangrene" which needed to be removed to make Brazil healthy again. Senator Fatima Bezerra from the Workers's Party called the proceedings "a farce". "Those who back this coup d'etat won't ever be forgiven," she warned.
But the atmosphere in the upper house is a far cry from the packed lower house session on 17 April. Senator Vanessa Grazziotin of the Communist Party of Brazil said the impeachment process was just a pretext to put an end to the social programmes the Workers' Party had brought in.
Many seats are empty and senators can be heard chatting amongst themselves while the speeches are going on. Former President Fernando Collor de Mello, who himself faced impeachment proceedings in 1992, gave a lengthy speech about the injustice he said had been committed against him but failed to give an indication of where he stood on Ms Rousseff's impeachment.
Mr Calheiros called the senators to order and told them to "pay attention and put their phones away".
A critical moment: Analysis by Wyre Davies, BBC Brazil correspondent
What has been a long, damaging and divisive political process is at a critical moment as the 81 members of the Brazilian Senate prepare to vote on whether or not to subject Dilma Rousseff to a full impeachment trial.
The beleaguered president denies the charges against her - that she illegally concealed the scale of the budget deficit. Brazil's first female leader says that what is really happening, first in the lower house of Congress and now in the Senate, is a judicial coup by her political opponents to remove her from office.
Whatever the real reasons for impeachment, there is no doubt that Ms Rousseff's leftist Workers' Party is deeply unpopular, with Brazil in the middle of an economic crisis and her government embroiled in a huge corruption scandal.
In a recent interview with the BBC, Ms Rousseff appeared to acknowledge that she would be suspended pending an impeachment trial but she said would fight to clear her name and fully intended to resume the final two years of her presidency.
If the vote goes against her, Ms Rousseff will be replaced by Vice-President Michel Temer while the impeachment trial lasts.If the vote goes against her, Ms Rousseff will be replaced by Vice-President Michel Temer while the impeachment trial lasts.
She says Mr Temer is a traitor who is taking part in a political coup against her democratically elected government.
Her chief of staff, Jaques Wagner, said Ms Rousseff was "outraged by the injustice committed against her, but standing firm awaiting the Senators' decision.Her chief of staff, Jaques Wagner, said Ms Rousseff was "outraged by the injustice committed against her, but standing firm awaiting the Senators' decision.
She has promised to fight to the end.She has promised to fight to the end.
"I will not resign. That never crossed my mind," she said during a speech at a women's rights conference in the capital Brasilia on Tuesday. "I will not resign. That never crossed my mind," she said during a speech on Tuesday.