Just more of the same? Brazilian voters love it
Dilma Rousseff
"I'm with Dilma " said Darley Oliveira  who runs a sparkling new bakery in Paraisopolis  when asked how he will vote in the Oct. 3 elections. "She's Lula's candidate and she will continue what he has started."
 Despite being relatively unknown and lacking Silva's charm and ability to connect to an audience  Rousseff has a life story every bit as dramatic as her political mentor's  whose past as a union leader standing up to the dictatorship is now etched in Brazil's political lore.
 Rousseff was a key player in an armed militant group that resisted Brazil's 1964-85 military dictatorship -- and was imprisoned and tortured for it. She is a cancer survivor and a former minister of energy and chief of staff to Silva. She possesses a management style that has earned her the moniker "Iron Lady" -- a name she detests.
 That stuck with Rousseff  who in 1967  as a 19-year-old economics student  joined a militant political group opposing the dictatorship. For three years she helped lead guerrilla organizations  instructed comrades on Marxist theory and wrote for an underground newspaper.
 Rousseff denies carrying out any acts of violence during this period  says she opposed such action and notes she was never accused by the military regime of violent acts.
 Brazil's militant groups of the era did take armed action  however  notably the 1968 gunning down of U.S. Army Capt. Charles Chandler in Sao Paulo by the VPR militant group -- a faction that helped create the VAR-Palmares organization joined by Rousseff. His killers accused Chandler of helping train torturers in Brazil. U.S. officials said he was in Brazil to study Portuguese in preparation for teaching classes at West Point.
 After three years underground  Rousseff was captured in 1970 by Brazil's military police and was considered a big enough catch that a military prosecutor labeled her the "Joan of Arc" of the guerrilla movement.
 She was tossed into the Tiradentes prison  where she spent nearly three years and was submitted to brutal torture. Rousseff was beaten to the point of heavy bleeding  underwent electric shocks and spent hours on the "parrot's perch" -- a painful stress-position involving tying wrists to ankles  then suspending a prisoner off the ground by running a pole under their knees and over their biceps.
 After being released  she moved to southern Brazil in 1973  where she re-united with her now ex-husband  Carlos Araujo  who was also an imprisoned militant. She gave birth to a daughter and finished her economics degree. As Brazil's dictatorship began to loosen its grip  Rousseff became more politically involved and campaigned to get her husband elected to the state congress in 1982.
 In 1986  Rousseff was selected to be finance minister for the city of Porto Alegre  the beginning of a bureaucratic career that saw her serve twice as the energy minister for Rio Grande do Sul state. In 2000  she left the Democratic Workers Party  joined Silva's Workers Party  and served for two years as the nation's energy minister after Silva took office in 2003 before becoming his chief of staff.
"I'm with [TGT] " said Darley Oliveira  who runs a sparkling new bakery in Paraisopolis  when asked how [TGT] will vote in the Oct. 3 elections. "She's Lula's candidate and she will continue what [TGT] has started."
 Despite being relatively unknown and lacking Silva's charm and ability to connect to an audience  [TGT] has a life story every bit as dramatic as her political mentor's  whose past as a union leader standing up to the dictatorship is now etched in Brazil's political lore.
 [TGT] was a key player in an armed militant group that resisted Brazil's 1964-85 military dictatorship -- and was imprisoned and tortured for it. She is a cancer survivor and a former minister of energy and chief of staff to Silva. She possesses a management style that has earned her the moniker "Iron Lady" -- a name she detests.
 That stuck with Rousseff  who in 1967  as a 19-year-old economics student  joined a militant political group opposing the dictatorship. For three years she helped lead guerrilla organizations  instructed comrades on Marxist theory and wrote for an underground newspaper.
 [TGT] denies carrying out any acts of violence during this period  says she opposed such action and notes she was never accused by the military regime of violent acts.
 Brazil's militant groups of the era did take armed action  however  notably the 1968 gunning down of U.S. Army Capt. Charles Chandler in Sao Paulo by the VPR militant group -- a faction that helped create the VAR-Palmares organization joined by [TGT]. His killers accused Chandler of helping train torturers in Brazil. U.S. officials said he was in Brazil to study Portuguese in preparation for teaching classes at West Point.
 After three years underground  [TGT] was captured in 1970 by Brazil's military police and was considered a big enough catch that a military prosecutor labeled her the "Joan of Arc" of the guerrilla movement.
 She was tossed into the Tiradentes prison  where she spent nearly three years and was submitted to brutal torture. [TGT] was beaten to the point of heavy bleeding  underwent electric shocks and spent hours on the "parrot's perch" -- a painful stress-position involving tying wrists to ankles  then suspending a prisoner off the ground by running a pole under their knees and over their biceps.
 After being released  she moved to southern Brazil in 1973  where she re-united with her now ex-husband  Carlos Araujo  who was also an imprisoned militant. She gave birth to a daughter and finished her economics degree. As Brazil's dictatorship began to loosen its grip  [TGT] became more politically involved and campaigned to get her husband elected to the state congress in 1982.
 In 1986  [TGT] was selected to be finance minister for the city of Porto Alegre  the beginning of a bureaucratic career that saw her serve twice as the energy minister for Rio Grande do Sul state. In 2000  she left the Democratic Workers Party  joined Silva's Workers Party  and served for two years as the nation's energy minister after Silva took office in 2003 before becoming his chief of staff.