Brasilia: Dilma Rousseff became Brazil's first female president on Saturday after promising to build on an unprecedented run of economic success achieved by her popular predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The 63-year-old former Marxist guerrilla and her Vice-President Michel Temer took the oath of office at the National Congress before hundreds of government officials and world leaders, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyco Borisov.
After the swearing-in ceremony and a 40-minute speech, Rousseff rode to the presidential palace in a 1953 Rolls Royce with the roof down, and her daughter by her side.
Rousseff, who evolved over the years into a pragmatic civil servant, was cheered on by thousands of people as she drove by Brasilia's modern buildings.
The cancer survivor walked up the palace's ramp and was welcomed by outgoing Lula, who handed over the presidential sash at a balcony in front of a crowd of 30,000 supporters.
In her inaugural speech, Rousseff called for reform of Brazil's onerous and complex tax system. She also called inflation a "plague," vowing to keep prices under control, and referred the new oil reserves as a passport to the future.
Rousseff said she would do her best to continue the work that Lula started.
"The task of succeeding President Lula is challenging. I will know how to honor this legacy," she said.
As she held back tears, Rousseff pledged to eradicate poverty in the nation of 190 million people.
"(I will fight) for the necessary changes in education, in health and security and, above all, I will fight to end poverty and misery," she said.
More than 20 million Brazilians were lifted out of poverty during Lula's eight years in office, thanks largely to his social welfare policies and stable economic management that made Brazil a darling among Wall Street investors.
After the speech, Rousseff walked down the ramp with Lula, who headed to Brasilia's air base and boarded on a plane to Sao Paulo where he is expected to visit former Vice-President Jose Alencar. Alencar is in hospital following a surgery to remove a tumor causing intestinal bleeding.
The new president went to Brazil's Foreign Affairs Ministry and greeted international delegations and chiefs of state, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Rousseff, who had never run for elected office before sweeping October's election, will take the reins of an emerging giant with a booming economy, vast new oil reserves and growing diplomatic clout on the global stage.
But she will also inherit a country with a long list of daunting challenges that Lula failed to tackle, including an overvalued currency that is hurting industry, rampant public spending that is fueling inflation, and notorious bureaucracy that stifles investment and discourages innovation.
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