Weekly Report - 19 November 2009 (WR-09-46)

The reputation of the minister of Brazil's presidency and likely presidential candidate in 2010, Dilma Rousseff, was damaged by a massive blackout that left 70 million Brazilians in the dark for several hours on the evening of 10-11 November. Rousseff made her reputation as an excellent administrator while heading the mines and energy ministry during most of President Lula da Silva's first mandate and, prior to that, as energy secretary in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul during the tenure of Lula's Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT). So far the government has not been able to explain the reason for the blackout, allowing the opposition to take political advantage.