Insider

Former President Dilma Rousseff admitted to hospital

dilma rousseff hospital
Brazil’s former President Dilma Rousseff. Photo: Roberto Stuckert Filho/PR

Dilma Rousseff, who served as Brazil’s president between 2011 and 2016, was admitted to a hospital in Porto Alegre. Ms. Rousseff, 73, is reportedly undergoing tests after feeling unwell during a videoconference with other members of the center-left Workers’ Party.

Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, her political mentor, said on Twitter that he spoke with Ms. Rousseff on Tuesday morning and “she was already feeling better,” and could be discharged later today. Workers’ Party chairperson Gleisi Hoffmann added that the former president’s test results “all came back normal.”

Congress impeached Ms. Rousseff in 2016, but she avoided the loss of her political rights for eight years thanks to a legal maneuver negotiated by the Senate and Supreme Court. In 2018, she ran for a Senate seat in the state of Minas Gerais. She led polls for most of the race, but ended up in fourth place, with 15 percent of votes.