The old wounds and new divisions opened up by Brazil’s impeachment vote were evident on Tuesday when Dilma Rousseff said it was “lamentable” that one of her accusers had glorified the torture used against her and others during the dictatorship era.



The president was referring to Jair Bolsonaro, a rightwing lower house deputy, who dedicated his vote in favour of impeachment to Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, the colonel who headed the feared Doi-Codi torture unit in the 1970s.



Rousseff, a former guerrilla, was imprisoned at the time and tortured. She rarely goes into details, but once described how she was beaten, given electric shocks and left naked on the floor. Other women political prisoners from that time have said they were raped.

Bolsonaro – who is planning to run for president in the next election – used his brief statement at the microphone during Sunday’s vote to laud the military leaders who beat and tormented leftwing leaders after the 1964 coup.



“They lost in 1964, and now they have lost in 2016,” he said. He then dedicated his vote to “the memory of Col Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, the dread of Dilma Rousseff”.

Rousseff was asked to respond to that taunt at a press conference with foreign journalists on Tuesday. She paused briefly for composure, then replied with dignity: “It is regrettable that this moment in Brazil has opened a door to intolerance, hate and to this kind of statement,” she said.

Avoiding any mention of names, she continued: “I was arrested in the 1970s and I did, in fact, meet this man he refers to. He was one of the biggest torturers in Brazil and was accused of torture and killing.”

After losing the vote by a crushing majority, the president is on the verge of losing power. From next Tuesday, the upper house will decide whether to proceed with impeachment. If a simple majority of the 81 senators approves in a vote on 17 May, Rousseff must stand aside for 180 days while they debate her fate.



Vice-President Michel Temer, who is set to replace her, has already begun discussions with other senior centre-right politicians who are likely to make up his new cabinet.



Bolsonaro, a former army captain, is the most prominent figure in the “bullets, beef and Bible” caucus on the extreme right of Brazilian politics. Revelling in his status as a bete noir of the left, he regularly courts controversy, particularly regarding women.

During a 2014 debate on a Truth Commission report on the murder, rape and torture carried out during the dictatorship, he lashed out a female deputy with the words, “I wouldn’t rape you. You’re not worth it.”



These comments prompted the attorney general to press criminal charges but only added to his popularity among conservatives. In Rio de Janeiro, Bolsonaro won more votes than any other candidate during the last election.

On Facebook, he is the third most “liked” politician in Brazil.

Part of the reason is Brazil’s culture of machismo, which according to Rousseff has also contributed to the desire for impeachment of the country’s first female president.

“Mixed up in all this is a degree of prejudice against women. There are attitudes towards me that would not exist with a male president,” she said.

While Rousseff attempts to clear her name, her comments also represent the opening salvo for the 2018 election presidential campaign in which her predecessor Luis Inácio Lula de Silva is expected to run as the candidate for Rousseff’s Workers party.

The party’s strategy appears to be to present Rousseff as a wronged woman who is the victim of an injustice, although the party has been deeply implicated in ongoing corruption investigations.