If Dilma Rousseff is impeached, she will be the 18th elected Latin American president since 1985, excluding Haiti, forced to leave office by means other than the ballot box, says Gretchen Helmke.

Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff suffered a devastating blow when the Chamber of Deputies voted to open impeachment proceedings against her.

Dilma Rousseff was sworn in as Brazil’s first female president today, capping a rapid political trajectory for the career technocrat and former Marxist rebel who was imprisoned and tortured during the nation’s long military dictatorship.