Dilma Rousseff.

Dilma Rousseff grew up in an upper middle-class household in Belo Horizonte, born on December 14, 1947 to a Bulgarian immigrant father, Pedro Rousseff, and a Brazilian schoolteacher mother, Dilma Jane da Silva. She became a socialist during her youth. Following the 1964 coup d’état in Brazil, she joined left-wing and Marxist urban guerrilla groups that fought against the military dictatorship. In 1970 she was captured and jailed until 1972, during which she reportedly endured torture.

After her release, Rousseff resumed her education, attending the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and later the University of Campinas. She entered politics and rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the 36th President of Brazil in 2011, the first woman to hold the office. She was re-elected in 2014 but faced impeachment in 2016 on charges of illegally manipulating government accounts. Beyond politics, Rousseff appeared in documentary films, including The Panama Papers 2018 and The Edge of Democracy 2019, where she is featured as herself.

Rousseff has been married twice: first to Cláudio Galeno Linhares and later to Carlos Araújo. She has one daughter, Paula Rousseff, and a brother named Igor. Her early involvement in armed resistance and imprisonment shaped her personal and political life.

Dilma Rousseff broke gender barriers as Brazil’s first female president, elected in 2011. Her administration faced economic challenges. Forbes ranked her second in its 2013 list of most powerful women. Her 2016 impeachment remains a subject of debate. She received honors including the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic and the Bertha Lutz Prize.