Rousseff criticises Brazil’s white male cabinet

Brazil's suspended President Dilma Rousseff has criticised the new interim government for being made up of white male politicians.

The cabinet, formed by her former vice-president Michel Temer, is the first cabinet with no women in Brazil in 1979.

"Black people and women are fundamental if you truly want to construct an inclusive country," Rousseff said on Friday to journalists at the presidential palace, where she will continue to live during her impeachment trial.

"I think the government is clearly showing that it is going to be neo-liberal in the economy and extremely conservative on the social and cultural side."

Rousseff, who is facing trial after the Senate on Thursday voted to impeach and suspend her, had seven women among her 31 ministers.

She is accused of illegally manipulating finances to conceal a growing public deficit ahead of her re-election in 2014, charges she denies.

The new government's chief-of-staff Eliseu Padilha said they had been unable to find any women for the cabinet.

"We tried to seek women but for reasons that we don't need to bring up here, we discussed it and it was not possible," he said. "We will bring women into the government, in posts that used to be ministries, and that now will have the same functions but under a different name."

He insisted that the new government will be in stark contrast to the administration of Rousseff who had called herself in Portuguese "presidenta" instead of the gender neutral "presidente", and who had spoken of citizens as being "Brazilian women and men."

During the impeachment process she had frequently explained the criticism of herself and the government as being related to her being a woman.

In his first speech after the Senate voted to impeach Rousseff, interim President Michel Temer stressed that "economic vitality" was his key task.

"It is essential to rebuild the credibility of the country at home and abroad to attract new investments and get the economy growing again,” he said, warning that Brazil was still a poor nation and that he would protect and expand social programmes.