Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff says she is ready to defend her administration as the Senate debates whether she should be put on trial, after an impeachment process she has labelled a coup.
The chief executive, who was re-elected in October 2014, called a press conference the day after the lower house of Congress voted 367-137 in favour of impeaching her on charges she massaged budget numbers to minimise the deficit.
Describing her mood as sad, but not disheartened, she said the accounting manoeuvres that form the basis of the accusation against her were not illegal, much less crimes warranting impeachment.
"I carried out those acts, which are carried out by every president in the exercise of the office, and when a president carries out administrative acts he or she does so based on an entire chain of decision, with technical and juridical analyses," she said.
Visibly upset, she stressed that under her predecessors, those accounting manoeuvres "were considered legal".
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The centre-left president also pointed out that unlike many of the lawmakers sitting in judgment over her, she does not face charges "of diverting money, of illegal enrichment or of hiding (bank) accounts abroad".
Those three offences have been imputed to lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha, who authorised the start of the impeachment proceedings against Rousseff and is second to Vice President Michel Temer - also under investigation - in the line of succession.
Recalling that as a young woman, she stood firmly against the 1964-1985 military regime, which jailed and tortured her, Rousseff says she will do the same now against "a coup d'etat, which is not of the traditional type, but is a coup".
Following the vote in the house, the Senate must appoint a 21-member panel to consider the accusations against Rousseff and issue a recommendation on whether or not to put her on trial.
Once the panel delivers its report, the full Senate will vote, with only a simple majority needed to convene a trial.
In that event, Rousseff will be required to step down for 180 days pending completion of the process, with Temer set to step in as acting president.
