U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that Brazil's democratic institutions had acted within the country's constitutional framework, a defense of a process to remove the country's last elected president that critics have likened to a parliamentary coup.
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Kirby said in a press release that the United States expects to continue having good relations with Brazil after today's vote installed former Vice President Michel Temer as president until Dec. 2018.
"We’ve seen reports that the Brazilian Senate in accordance with Brazil’s constitutional framework has voted to remove President Rousseff from office," Kirby said. "We’re confident that we will continue the strong bilateral relationship that exists between our two countries as the two largest democracies and economies in the hemisphere."
Meanwhile, the governments of Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela recalled their ambassadors to Brazil, protesting the Senate’s decision and the imposed new government in the country.
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Venezuela said it had decided “to freeze all political and diplomatic relations with a government that emerged from a parliamentary coup."
The Ecuadorean government condemned the Senate decision to oust Rousseff, who was elected president to a second term with a popular mandate of 54 million votes in 2014. Ecuador's government "cannot ignore the fact that many of the decision-makers in Rousseff's impeachment are being investigated for serious acts of corruption."
Installed President Michel Temer, now-Foreign Minister Jose Serra, chief impeachment leader Eduardo Cunha and several other high-profile figures behind Rousseff's impeachment are embroiled in massive corruption scandals.
"These unfortunate events, unacceptable in the 21st century, pose a serious risk to the stability of our region and constitute a grave setback in the consolidation of democracy," said Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Twitter.