Brazil to Respond ‘Stronger’ to Foreign Criticism of Impeachment - Minister

Brazil’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Jose Serra vowed tough reactions to statements made by other countries on the legitimacy of suspended President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment process on Sunday.

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – The upper house of the Brazilian parliament voted 55-22 on Thursday to start impeachment proceedings against Rousseff after she was accused of concealing the country’s budget deficit ahead of the 2014 re-election.

"Our concern is to clarify the untruths that have been said about the Brazilian process [impeachment]. Everything that is going on in the political, president of removal, impeachment trial, is expected within the Constitution, is within the democratic legality," Serra said in an interview with Brazil’s Globo broadcaster.

Five Latin American countries and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) sided with Rousseff, while El Salvador and Venezuela recalled their ambassadors from Brazil.

"The tone of the notes corresponds to the falsehoods that are being debated. The greater the falsehoods, the stronger the tone. The smaller, less strong is the tone," Serra stressed.

Rousseff, who called the impeachment process "a coup," has been suspended from office for 180 days, pending trial. Vice President Michel Temer has assumed the presidency during that period.

Temer has been accused by the WikiLeaks investigative website of serving as a US military and intelligence informant when he presided over the ruling PMDB party in 2006.

In two cables marked "Sensitive," Temer relayed his views on party unity and upcoming presidential elections to the US Southern Command in Miami and the US National Security Council, among other recipients, WikiLeaks said.

In interviews with Sputnik on Friday, former CIA officers John Kiriakou and Philip Giraldi stressed that Temer's confidential communications with the United States were "routine" and not intelligence-related.