At that time, she began attending

At that time, she began attending a discussion group formed by other VAR Palmares former members, such as Rui Falcão, Antonio Roberto Espinosa, and eventually Carlos Araújo. Meeting once every three months, the group lasted a couple of years. They would read the works of Karl Marx, Nicos Poulantzas, Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/P Battery

and Louis Althusser, discussing what would be the right moment to resume their political activity. Rousseff declared that she "attended the master's degree program," but did not finish it, failing to present her thesis. "That's why I returned to university to pursue a doctorate. And then I became minister and did not finish the doctorate", she said. Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/R Battery

Her academic credentials have been the subject of controversy as her official biography listed these master's and doctoral degrees that she had never earned. She was, however, twice enrolled in the graduate program in economics at the State University of Campinas, without ever fulfilling the requirements for those degrees. Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/W Battery

Rousseff has been married twice. In 1968 she married journalist Cláudio Galeno de Magalhães Linhares, who introduced 20-year-old Rousseff to the underground resistance movement against the dictatorship. In the early 1970s, Rousseff separated from Galeno and started dating Carlos Franklin Paixão de Araújo, Sony VAIO VPCCW29FJ/W Battery

her common-law husband for almost thirty years, with whom she had her only child, a daughter named Paula Rousseff de Araújo in 1976. The couple separated in 1994, after Rousseff discovered that another woman was pregnant with Araújo's son, and later resumed their relationship, finally divorcing him in 2000. Sony VAIO VPCCW2AFJ Battery

Detained in São Paulo, Araújo was sent to his home state of Rio Grande do Sul to finish his sentence. After she moved toPorto Alegre to resume her life with him, Rousseff became a teacher at the prison in order to see him. This work was unpaid.

Rousseff used the last name Linhares upon her marriage to Cláudio Galeno in 1967. Sony VAIO VPCCW2AHJ Battery

The couple separated in their underground years, and an amicable divorce took place in 1981, when she was romantically involved with Araújo. Rousseff, however, continued to use the surname of her first husband until 1999, when she resumed using her maiden name, Dilma Vana Rousseff.^[40]

According to Rousseff, she enjoys history and is interested in opera. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E Battery

In the early 1990s, she enrolled in a course in Greek theater taught by playwright Ivo Bender. Greek mythology then became an obsession for her, and, influenced by Penelope, she decided to learn how to embroider. Her favorite actress is Fernanda Montenegro. Her website claims she is an avid reader, citing Machado de Assis, Guimarães Rosa, Cecília Meireles, and Adélia Prado as her favorite authors. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/B Battery

Paula Rousseff, born on 27 March 1976, in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, is the only daughter of Dilma Rousseff and her former husband, Carlos Araújo. Paula is a law graduate and holds the office of Labor Prosecutor in Porto Alegre.^[42]

Paula Rousseff, married business administrator Rafael Covolo, three years her junior, in Porto Alegre on 18 April 2008.^[43] Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/L Battery

On 9 September 2010, Paula Rousseff, gave birth to Rousseff's first grandchild, a boy named Gabriel Rousseff Covolo in the city of Porto Alegre, during the 2010 presidential campaign of her mother. After the last debate with four other candidates, on 30 September 2010, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which was aired on national TV, Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/P Battery

Rousseff flew to Porto Alegre for the christening of Gabriel in the Roman Catholic Cathedral on 1 October 2010.At a press conference on 25 April 2009, Rousseff revealed that she was undergoing treatment to remove an early-stage axillarlymphoma, a cancer in the lymphatic system, which was detected in her left armpit during a routine mammogram. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/R Battery

It was diagnosed as a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, an intermediate grade type, but her chances of being cured were up to 90%. She was submitted to curative chemotherapy treatment for four months.^[45]

In mid-May 2009, she was hospitalized in the Hospital Sírio Libanês in São Paulo, with severe pains in her legs. The diagnosis was a myopathy, a muscle inflammation resulting from the cancer treatment. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/W Battery

In early September that same year, she revealed she had completed herradiotherapy treatment, claiming to be cured, which was later confirmed by her doctors. She began to wear a wig due to hair loss caused by the chemotherapy.

After seven months of wearing a wig, Rousseff wore her natural dark brown hair at the launch of the 3rd Human Rights Program on 21 December 2009. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S5C CN1 Battery

She had announced in November that she would be retiring her wig as soon as her hair became more even. According to her, it was still "full of holes," the reason why she "couldn't take [the wig] off there in Copenhagen, Denmark." She first publicly admitted of wearing a wig back in May, when she jokingly referred to it as a "basic little wig." Sony VAIO VPCF112FX/B Battery

Although Rousseff states that her political thinking has evolved drastically – from Marxism to pragmatic capitalism — she remains proud of her radicalroots.^[2]Rousseff is pro-life, supporting abortion only for pregnancies which endangers the life of the mother or are the result of rape, cases in which the current Brazilian legislation allows women to terminate their pregnancies. Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B Battery

Her present pro-life views have been criticized by sectors of the Roman Catholic Church in Brazil and other religious groups, due to her past support for the legalization of abortion. It was also a main target of criticism by José Serra's campaign as well as conservative newsmagazine Veja, which emphasized Rousseff's past and current positions on its cover.^[50] Sony VAIO VPCF116FGBI Battery

When asked about the criminal prosecution against Flamengo goalkeeper Bruno Fernandes de Souza, accused of killing his former girlfriend Eliza Samudio, Rousseff said that she opposes the death penalty.^[51] According to her, "if it was effective, there would not be such crimes in the United States."^[51] Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ/W Battery

Rousseff opposes gay marriage, but supports same-sex civil union.^[52] She said that "marriage is a religious issue. I, as an individual, would never say what a religion should do or not. We have to respect them."^[52] About same-sex civil union, Rousseff said that "basic civil rights should be recognized in a civil manner."^[52] Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI Battery

She also opposes the legalization of illegal drugs, stating that "Brazil today is unable to propose the decriminalization of any drug."^[53]

As a member of the Workers' Party, a social-democratic party which opposes Third Way politics, Rousseff was expected to be against privatization andneoliberalism. Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ/W Battery

The Nation, as an example of this thought, described Rousseff's victory as a defeat for the Washington Consensus.^[54] Rousseff, however, has an ambiguous position on issues that involve privatization. She is, for instance, "favorable to grant to private enterprise the construction of new power plants and roads, when it is cheaper to do them through grants than through public works." Sony VAIO VPCF119FC Battery

Additionally, she favored the privatization of airports in order to prepare Brazil's infra-structure for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.^[56]

She also pledged to deepen the social welfare network inaugurated by the Lula administration, saying that, under her rule, "Brazil will continue to grow, with social inclusion and mobility." Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI Battery

With the end of the mandatory two-party system, in the early 1980s, Rousseff participated, along with Carlos Araújo, in Leonel Brizola's efforts for restructuring the Brazilian Labor Party (of social-democratic President João Goulart, overthrown by the 1964 coup). After the Supreme Electoral Court gave the name registry to the group linked to Ivete Vargas (Getúlio Vargas' niece), Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ/BI Battery

Rousseff and the group linked to Brizola founded the Democratic Labour Party(Portuguese: Partido Democrático Trabalhista—PDT).^[37] Araújo was elected state deputy three times for this party, in 1982, 1986, and 1990. He was also the party's candidate for Porto Alegre mayor twice, losing to Workers' Party members Olívio Dutra in 1988, and Tarso Genro in 1992. Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ Battery

Rousseff got her second job in the mid-1980s as an adviser for the PDT members of the Rio Grande do Sul Legislative Assembly.^[37]

Rousseff and Araújo devoted themselves to Alceu Collares' campaign for mayor of Porto Alegre in 1985. Much of his campaign and government plan was prepared at their home. Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ Battery

After elected, Collares appointed Rousseff as the Municipal Secretary of Treasury; this was her first job in the Executive branch. According to Collares, Araújo influenced him on Rousseff's appointment, but her competence also contributed on his choice.^[37]

In the gubernatorial campaign of fellow PDT member Aldo Pinto in 1986, Rousseff had an advising role. Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ Battery

Pinto's running mate was Nelson Marchezan, one of the most prominent civilians during the Brazilian military government. They would be defeated by the PMDB candidate Pedro Simon. Twenty years later, in an interview, Rousseff attempted to justify the controversial alliance: "Marchezan was a leader of the dictatorship, but he was never an enraged (French: Enragé). Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B Battery

The Marchezan wing was the wing of the radicalized small (rural) owners. And he was an ethical guy."^[37]Rousseff remained as Treasury Secretary until 1988, when she stepped out to dedicate herself in Araújo's campaign for mayor of Porto Alegre. She was replaced by Políbio Braga, which says that Rousseff persuaded him not to take office. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E Battery

She would have said that she could "not control these crazy people" and that she was leaving "before it taints my biography." While Collares remembers Rousseff as an example of competence and public transparency, Braga disagrees, stating that "she did not even leave us a single report, and the Treasury Secretary was a chaos."^[37] Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H Battery

Araújo's defeat jettisoned the PDT of the local executive branch. In 1989, however, Rousseff was appointed director-general of the City Council, but was dismissed by councilman Valdir Fraga, president of the local legislature, after arriving late for work. As Fraga later said, "I dismissed her because she had a problem with the clock." Sony VAIO VPCF11MFX/B Battery

In 1990, Alceu Collares was elected Governor, appointing Rousseff as president of the FEE, where she had been an intern in the 1970s. She remained in office until the end of 1993, when she was appointed Secretary of Energy and Communication through the influence of Carlos Araújo and his group. Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG/H Battery

She remained in office until the end of 1994, the same time when her relationship with Araújo had ended, shaken by the discovery that another woman was pregnant with his child, Rodrigo (born in 1995). They later reconciled and remained together until 2000, when Rousseff moved alone to a rented apartment.Sony VAIO VGN-SR70B/S Battery

In 1995, after the end of Collares' term, Rousseff departed from her political office and returned to the FEE, where she was the editor of the magazine Economic Indicators (Portuguese: Indicadores Econômicos). It was during this break from public offices that she officially enrolled in the Campinas State University PhD program, in 1998. Sony VAIO VGN-SR72B/P Battery

That same year, the Workers' Party won the Rio Grande do Sul gubernatorial election with the support of PDT in the second round. Once again she was appointed Secretary of Energy, this time by Governor Olívio Dutra. As he later recalled, "I already knew and respected her. I also appointed her because she was in a more left-leaning stance inside the PDT, less populist." Sony VAIO VGN-SR72B/S Battery

During the first year of the Dutra administration, the PDT had gained some high-ranking offices, but Brizola felt that his party had very little space in the government, responsible for a tiny portion of the budget. Unable to get more space inside the administration, PDT members of the government were pressured by the party leadership to step down. Sony VAIO VGN-SR73JB/S Battery

The formation of the political alliance for the 2000 Porto Alegre mayoral election was also a cause of friction among the two parties. They ended up launching each own a different candidate; PDT's was Collares and PT's was Tarso Genro. Rousseff defended the maintenance of the alliance which had elected Dutra, Sony VAIO VGN-SR74FB/S Battery

supporting Genro's candidacy, and claiming she would not accept "neoliberal alliances with the right-wing". Her critics said that she was being hypocritical, once she defended an alliance with Marchezan in the 1986 election. Genro defeated Collares in the second round and Rousseff, among other fellow PDT members, joined the Workers' Party. Brizola accused them of being traitors. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90FS Battery