(ATR) Rio 2016 will invite suspended President Dilma Rousseff to the 2016 Olympic Opening Ceremony.
Mario Andrada, Rio 2016 communications director, confirmed to reporters that Rousseff would be invited to sit with all living former presidents of Brazil at the ceremony. Rousseff has not been fully removed from office but due to the mandatory suspension as part of her impeachment trial, the organizing committee had to invite her in this capacity.
"The grandstand is divided into several parts," Andrada said. "In the main part are heads of state, dignitaries and authorities, and here will be President Temer. Elsewhere, there are other authorities, other politicians, and in one of these parts would be former presidents.
"Dilma at the moment is a suspended president, but she was also president then re-elected president. So, on one hand she is also a former president."
Since Rousseff was suspended for 180 days as president last month, she lost the opportunity to officially open the 2016 Olympics as head of state of the host city. The act is seen as a very prestigious way to announce the host country’s arrival on the world stage.
Earlier this week Rousseff told foreign journalists in Brasilia that she would "climb a tree to watch the Games" if she were not invited to the ceremonies in Rio. She told the same journalists that if worldwide heads of state would like to see her, she would be more than happy to receive them, but only on a personal basis.
Acting President Michel Temer will officially open the 2016 Olympics, although it is unclear if he will close them. The current schedule for the Rousseff impeachment trial in the Brazilian Senate overlaps with the 2016 Olympics.
If Rousseff were to survive the trial, she would be reinstated in office before the Olympic Closing Ceremony.
Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro
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