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Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, spoke at the Institute of the Americas about President Dilma Rousseff’s first year in office. Photo by Simone TalaricoLA JOLLA – She’s focused. She’s no-nonsense.  And she is a “very, very tough” leader in a male-dominated society.

President Dilma Rousseff, the first woman to govern Brazil, “conveys a seriousness of character. Her demeanor says, ‘Guys, let’s calm down,’ ” said Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Those qualities have earned the president Brazilians refer to simply as, “Dilma,” an enviable 72 percent approval rate at the end of her first year in office.

“She was elected because of the enormous popularity of President Lula,” said Sotero, an Institute of the Americas board member, during a Jan. 17 presentation at the Institute’s La Jolla campus.

“Dilma is no Lula and she knows that. But she has shown unexpected leadership qualities,” Sotero said.  “And she has shown something that was missing in Brazil – the capacity to build bridges with the opposition.”

Brazil’s economy has growth to the sixth largest in the world.With Rousseff in charge, Brazil's economy has grown to the sixth largest in the world. Real salaries are continuing to rise and unemployment is hovering at about 5 percent, said Sotero. “This economic progress in Brazil has brought into play a new political actor – a growing middle class". The dream is to buy a house, own a car.  This group explains the optimism we have in Brazil.”

Now comes Rousseff’s biggest challenge – to eliminate poverty, Sotero said. Some 45 million people live in poverty in Brazil, a country of 195 million.  About 40 percent of the country’s poor live in extreme poverty.

“This economic progress in Brazil has brought into play a new political actor – a growing middle class".

As the Rousseff government searches for ways to improve the lives of the poor, Brazil’s economic growth and consumer spending are declining. In 2011, the country’s economy grew just 2.9 percent, compared to 7.5 percent in 2010. Brazil is projecting a 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent growth rate in 2012.

China is now Brazil’s largest trading partner. In 2011, China invested $12 billion in Brazilian industrial plants and infrastructure. Three Chinese auto manufacturers also announced plans to build plants in Brazil.

But there are growing complaints that trade with China is not benefiting Brazil.  Some 85 percent of China’s purchases from Brazil are in three commodities – iron ore, soybeans and petroleum.  Brazil’s purchases from China are largely manufactured goods, machine tools and sophisticated equipment.

“Some have compared this trade between China and Brazil to a new colonialism,” said Sotero. “China has become both a great opportunity and a major challenge.”

Brazil has shown a remarkable capacity to recreate itself over the past century.

“Not much in our history would indicate that we would be where we are today,” said Sotero.  “Brazil was the last country on Earth to abolish slavery. It took us until 1930 to start industrializing.  In 1930, about 80 percent of Brazilians lived in rural areas.  Fifty years later, that has completely reversed.”

In 2002, Brazilians elected Lula, “the first man of the people to govern this unjust society.  Then we elected a woman,” Sotero said.  “Both of them are emblematic of Brazilian society today.  Brazil is a society that is trying new things.”