Some are charged with bribe-taking, others electoral crimes and one with forming a gang: Meet the men overseeing the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

The first woman to lead Latin America's biggest country could be ejected one year into her second term on charges that her government illegally managed the federal budget.

Brazil's impeachment plot thickened Wednesday with speculation rife over whether President Dilma Rousseff will be abandoned by a key ally and the Supreme Court stepping in to put the whole process on hold.

For Rousseff, the court's decision late Tuesday to freeze the impeachment machine for a week offered badly needed respite as she fights to avoid being ejected one year into her second term at the head of Latin America's biggest country.

Brazil's Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended action by a special congressional commission weighing impeachment proceedings against embattled President Dilma Rousseff.

The move freezes the impeachment process until December 16 when the court convenes for a full session.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is facing the prospect of impeachment, saw her woes deepen early Tuesday as the vice president appeared to distance himself from her.

Vice President Michel Temer is from the centrist PMDB party, the main partner in Brazil's ruling coalition, along with Rousseff's Workers' Party.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's party was appealing Thursday to the Supreme Court to block impeachment proceedings, in the first counter-blow of a battle plunging Latin America's biggest country into political turmoil.

The morning after the speaker of the lower house of Congress triggered the impeachment process against Rousseff on grounds that she illegally manipulated government accounts, her Workers' Party sprang into action.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff won a temporary reprieve Tuesday from threatened impeachment thanks to a Supreme Court intervention and her principal opponent's decision to hold off for now on opening proceedings.

Brazil's highest court slowed an expected rush to impeach Rousseff by ruling against lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha -- the man with the power to trigger impeachment -- on procedural questions.

Hundreds of demonstrators besieged government offices in Brazil Wednesday to protest plans for deep budget cuts as part of an austerity plan.

President Dilma Rousseff, faced with a deepening recession and rising inflation, has put forth an austerity plan that involves $17 billion in cuts to bring the federal budget out of the red.

Standard & Poor's cut Brazil's sovereign credit rating to junk Wednesday, citing the struggle by President Dilma Rousseff's government to master growing debt and political turmoil.

"We are lowering the long-term foreign and local currency ratings on Brazil to 'BB+' and 'BBB-' respectively," the agency said in a statement.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro late Monday said he had ordered more of his country's vast border with Colombia closed amid a diplomatic crisis over deportations and smuggling.

"I have decided to close the border crossing at Paraguachon, Zulia state," Maduro said in a televised address. He said he would send an additional 3,000 troops to the area.

Brazil will welcome Syrian refugees with "open arms," President Dilma Rousseff said Monday, as various Latin American nations sought to help with the human tidal wave fleeing the war-torn country.

In a video message marking Brazil's Independence Day, Rousseff said she wanted to "reiterate the government's willingness to welcome those who, driven from their homeland, want to come live, work and contribute to the prosperity and peace of Brazil."