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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 000674 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/19/2018 
TAGS: PGOV BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: TOP ADVISER DILMA ROUSSEFF BOOSTS OWN 2010 
PRESIDENTIAL CHANCES 
 
REF: A. BRASILIA 196 
     ¶B. BRASILIA 286 
     ¶C. BRASILIA 207 
     ¶D. BRASILIA 588 
 
Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY POLITICAL COUNSELOR STEPHEN LISTON, REASON 
 1.4 (D) 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary.  Dilma Rousseff, President Lula's top 
domestic policy adviser and apparent favorite to succeed him 
in 2010, greatly increased her chances of being her party's 
2010 presidential candidate by an impressive performance 
before hostile questioning in the Senate Infrastructure 
Services Committee on May 7.  Rousseff was called to testify 
on the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC)(ref A), a keystone 
of Lula's second term, as well as her alleged involvement in 
a scandal over misuse of government credit cards (refs B, C). 
 Rousseff performed superbly under pressure, with a thorough 
command of facts and an unflappable demeanor.  The 
presidential palace celebrated and media observers declared 
her stronger than before.  Opposition politicians 
acknowledged mistakes and vowed to have at her again in 
another committee.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (C)  Dilma Rousseff, Chief of the Civil Household, 
appeared before the Senate Infrastructure Services Committee 
on May 7 to testify on the progress of the Growth 
Acceleration Program, a keystone of Lula's second term.  Her 
appearance resulted from a surprise move by opposition 
senators who caught their government coalition colleagues off 
guard when they did not have enough votes to defeat the 
motion.  The real purpose of bringing her to the committee 
was to question her on the recent leak to media of data about 
the use of government credit cards in the Fernando Henrique 
Cardoso (FHC) administration (1995-2002).  The data are 
privileged, and opposition leaders accused the government of 
compiling a "dossier" and deliberately leaking it to the 
media to even the score and divert attention from the damage 
done over misuse of the cards in the Lula administration, 
which brought down a cabinet minister (ref C). 
 
¶3.  (C)  Rousseff's performance before the committee could 
have damaged or sunk her presidential prospects if it had 
gone poorly.  But Jose Agripino Maia (Democrats, opposition; 
of Rio Grande do Norte), the leader of his party in the 
Senate, blundered badly when very early in the hearing he 
noted that she had once said she had lied to military 
interrogators during the dictatorship, an obvious provocation 
suggesting she might lie to the committee.  Rousseff replied 
that she was brutally tortured by the military and was proud 
to have lied under torture because it saved the lives of 
others fighting the dictatorship.  With this dramatic and 
unassailable comeback, Rousseff was in complete control of 
most of the rest of the nearly eight-hour hearing, and even 
some usually combative opposition senators treated her with 
muted deference. 
 
¶4.  (C)  Making extensive use of slides on a laptop computer 
in front of her, Rousseff demonstrated an extensive and 
detailed knowledge of the Growth Acceleration Program, a 504 
billion reals (about USD 300 billion) growth and investment 
stimulus package that is being implemented under her 
direction.  When the subject turned to what the opposition 
calls a "dossier" of data on credit cards used in the FHC 
administration, which the government calls a "data bank," 
Rousseff agilely deflected repeated parries by opposition 
senators, again showing a thorough understanding of the data 
and how it is kept, controlled, and accessed.  She claimed to 
have been the greatest victim of the data leak, and insisted 
that the leaker should be found and held accountable.  On May 
8 it was revealed that the Federal Police and government 
technicians had discovered that the Secretary of Internal 
Controls for the Civil Household sent the data to a 
opposition Senate staffer, who may have leaked the data to 
the media.  The case is still under investigation. 
 
¶5.  (C)  After-action evaluations by media and political 
analysts concluded that Dilma Rousseff survived her trial by 
fire brilliantly, and Senator Agripino Maia's opening gaffe 
embarrassed the opposition and left it in temporary disarray. 
 President Lula and government coalition politicians publicly 
heaped praised on Rousseff.  The president of the Senate, 
 
BRASILIA 00000674  002 OF 002 
 
 
Garibaldi Alves Filho (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, 
government coalition; of Rio Grande do Norte) said Rousseff's 
testimony had "exhausted" the subject, convinced him there 
was no so-called dossier, and the temporary Committee of 
Congressional Inquiry into the credit card matter should 
reach the same conclusion. 
 
¶6.  (C)  Comment:  Wishful thinkers in the opposition had 
written off Dilma Rousseff as a political corpse after police 
discovered that the data leak came from the Civil Household. 
But after her performance at the Senate and the apparent 
discovery of the leaker, it appears improbable that the 
opposition will be able to unseat her as Lula's designated 
successor any time soon.  Lula remains solidly behind her, 
and although she still needs to attract broad national 
support to win the presidency, it is now more likely than 
ever that she will be the Workers' Party 2010 presidential 
candidate. 
CHICOLA