--- description: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said on Tuesday that she would not resign amidst attempts to impeach her title: Brazilian President Rousseff Says She Won't Resign image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b4b43bbd81652f4/69888c238e06010187465225/rtsbqsy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [brazil](/tag/brazil/) ## brazil Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Brazilian President Rousseff Says She Won't Resign by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 23, 2016 3:57 AM CUT  Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff speaks during a meeting with jurists at Palácio do Planalto in Brasília, Brazil, on March 22, 2016 Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff speaks during a meeting with jurists at Palácio do Planalto in Brasília, Brazil, on March 22, 2016Stringer—Reuters by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 23, 2016 3:57 AM CUT Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff [said](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics-idUSKCN0WO2LU "undefined") Tuesday that she would not resign, as the country’s political opposition begins its attempts to impeach her — an effort she decried as a “coup d’état.” Her remarks come amid what many have described as Brazil’s gravest political crisis in 20 years, Reuters reports. Opposition parties accuse Rousseff, who has been in office since 2011, of manipulating state accounts to shore up her re-election campaign in 2014\. She has repeatedly denied such accusations, saying, “I have committed no crime.” It is the latest development in a national [corruption scandal](http://time.com/4261712/lula-brazil-petrobras-scandal/ "undefined") that has implicated top members of the incumbent left-wing Workers’ Party and fueled large [antigovernment protests](http://time.com/4262386/ex-president-lula-brazil-petrobras-scandal/ "undefined") in the country’s streets. If Rousseff’s political supporters do not impede the impeachment process, she could be suspended by May. “I want tolerance, dialogue and peace. And that will only be possible if democracy is preserved,” she [said](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35877230 "undefined"), according to the BBC. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics-idUSKCN0WO2LU "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4268758/dilma-rousseff-brazil-impeachment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4268758/dilma-rousseff-brazil-impeachment/"},"headline":"Brazilian President Rousseff Says She Won't Resign","datePublished":"2016-03-23T03:57:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:08:21.307Z","description":"Her announcement comes amid Brazil's biggest political scandal in two decades","url":"https://time.com/4268758/dilma-rousseff-brazil-impeachment/","keywords":["brazil","Dilma Rousseff","corruption","South America"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b4b43bbd81652f4/69888c238e06010187465225/rtsbqsy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b4b43bbd81652f4/69888c238e06010187465225/rtsbqsy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Brazil's President Rousseff speaks during a meeting with jurists at Planalto Palace in Brasilia","caption":"Brazil's President Rousseff speaks during a meeting with jurists at Planalto Palace in Brasilia","creditText":"Stringer—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/brazil/","name":"brazil"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4268758/dilma-rousseff-brazil-impeachment/","name":"Brazilian President Rousseff Says She Won't Resign"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Protests Sweep Brazil","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/91dLcQut/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-03-14T14:12:28.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/91dLcQut.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4268758/dilma-rousseff-brazil-impeachment/","duration":"PT47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4268758/dilma-rousseff-brazil-impeachment/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```