Difference between revisions of "Jair Bolsonaro"

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Jair Messias Bolsonaro
38th President of Brazil From: January 1, 2019 – present
Vice President	Hamilton Mourão
Predecessor	Michel Temer
Successor	Incumbent (no successor)
Information
Party	Social Liberal Party
Spouse(s)	Rogéria Nantes Braga (div.) Ana Cristina Valle (div.) Michelle Bolsonaro
Religion	Catholic
Military Service
Allegiance	Brazil
Service/branch	Army
Service Years	1971–1988
Rank	Captain
Commands	8th Field Artillery Group 9th Parachute Artillery Group

Jair Messias Bolsonaro (born March 21, 1955) is the president of Brazil. He is a strongly conservative and anti-establishment^[1][2][3][4] former congressman and retired army captain. He often invokes God in his speeches.

He supports the right of all non-criminals to own firearms and proposed this as one of his first initiatives upon taking the office of president. One of his favorite expressions is "combater o lixo marxista," which means "fight the marxist garbage."^[5]

Life and career

Bolsonaro was born in the municipality of Glicério in São Paulo. He is of Italian descent. Bolsonaro served in Brazil's military from 1971 to 1988, graduating from Agulhas Negras Military Academy in 1977. Afterward, he served in Rio de Janeiro's city council from 1989 to 1991, and in Brazil's congress starting in 1991.

Bolsonaro has changed parties several times in his career, something not unusual considering the large number of parties in Brazil, along with the fact that conservative parties in the country tend to be weak. He was a member of the Progressive Party. The most leftist members of that party usually classify it as a PSNN (Progressista Só No Nome - Progressive In Name Only, PLINO). In March 2016, he left PP to join Social Christian Party, and he later joined the Social Liberal Party. All of these parties are conservative or conservative-leaning despite their names.

During the voting of the Dilma Rousseff in the Congress, on April 17, 2016, Bolsonaro dedicated his vote to Brilhante Ustra, the only militair that was declared by the Justice as a "torturer", and who allegedly was the torturer of Rousseff in the 1970s. Jean Wyllys, after he voted, spat on Bolsanaro.^[6]

2018 presidential election

Results of the 2nd round of the 2018 presidential election

Bolsonaro successfully ran for the Brazilian presidency in 2018.^[7] He tried in 2014, but the leaders of his party decided to support the Marxist government of Dilma Rousseff. Among the presidential proposals, Bolsonaro called for closing unnecessary ministries (such as Ministry of Finance, which keeps the government in control of the economy, and the Defense Ministry, which creates military subordination to political), the reduction of state in all its spheres, the free market, homeschooling, the neutral point of view in schools, private health, pro-gun rights,^[3][8] the prohibition of same-sex "marriage" and abortion. He also ran on a strong anti-corruption program.^{[3][9][10][11][12][13]}

During the 2018 election campaign, Bolsonaro survived an attempted assassination attempt, being stabbed.^[14]

Bolsonaro won 46% of the vote in the election's first round, significantly better than polls predicted and less than four percentage points to winning the election outright.^[15] His party performed very well in the congressional and gubernatorial elections held the same day.^[16] Bolsonaro's campaign had strong momentum going into the runoff,^[17] and he received strong support from evangelical Christians.^[18]

Bolsonaro won the election runoff with about 55% of the vote, marking a major shift in Brazilian^[2][19] and Latin American^[20] politics. He was congratulated by U.S. President Donald Trump^[21] and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini,^[22] among others. According to Brazilian professor Dawisson Belém Lopes, Brazil had elected "the most right wing leader of any democracy in the world."^[23]

President of Brazil

Transition and inauguration

Even before his inauguration, Bolsonaro had already begun making conservative changes.^[24] Among his other actions in preparation for assuming office, he nominated Ernesto Araújo, a pro-Trump nationalist, to be his foreign minister.^[25] He also nominated an evangelical pro-lifer pastor to be his minister in charge of family, women, and indigenous issues.^[26] Overall, his cabinet was comprised of conservatives and military men.^[27] Bolsonaro was inaugurated on January 1, 2019, declaring in his inauguration speech that Brazil would now be "liberated from socialism, inverted values, the bloated state and political correctness."^[28]

Tenure

Bolsonaro's presidency represented a unique opportunity for Brazil to advance conservative policies and improve the standard of living.^[29] He made many changes just in the first few days of his tenure.^[30] In his first address in front of Brazil's congress, Bolsonaro stated that "we are going to unite the people, value the family, respect religions and our Judeo-Christian tradition, combat gender ideology, conserving our values," and he mentioned his campaign slogan of "Brazil first and God above everything."^[31]

The Left used the same tactics and made the same attacks against Bolsonaro as it did against U.S. President Donald Trump.^[32]

In Bolsonaro's first 100 days in office, analysts agreed that he kept more campaign promises than, at least, his two most recent predecessors.^[33]

Gun rights

Bolsonaro announced that upon assuming office, he would sign a decree to allow all Brazilians to own firearms if they do not have a criminal record,^[34] something he did on January 15, 2019.^[35] On May 7, 2019, Bolsonaro signed another decree, increasing the amount of ammunition Brazilians could buy and reducing restrictions on gun imports.^[36]

Crime

Bolsonaro sent soldiers to the province of Ceará to put down major gang violence.^[37]

Economy, deregulation, and bureaucracy

Immediately upon assuming office, President Bolsonaro weakened the department protecting "indigenous rights," and instead promoting integration into Brazilian society, economic development, and improving indigenous quality of life.^[38][39] He also signed several decrees promoting the free market, including reducing a planned minimum wage increase, reducing the number of ministries, and firing partisan civil service officers,^[40] actions which caused Brazil's stock market to rise significantly^[41][42] and business optimism to increase.^[43] Bolsonaro's government promised to privatize about 100 government-run industries.^[44][45] In his first few days in office, Bolsonaro abolished Brazil's labor department.^[30]

Bolsonaro has promoted Brazil as an emerging free market society, criticizing his predecessors and stating that "the left wing will not prevail."^[46]

Bolsonaro worked to reduce socialistic environmental regulations.^[47]

Education

He also signed a decree eliminating the "diversity" division of Brazil's education ministry and created a new division to promote literacy,^[48] the decree being signed as Bolsonaro vowed "to tackle the Marxist garbage" in Brazilian schools.^[49] In February 2019, Bolsonaro announced it would revise public school textbooks to remove left-wing propaganda, including references to homosexuality and feminism.^[50] On February 25, 2019, the Education Ministry under Bolsonaro instructed schools to have students sing the national anthem and that teachers read a patriotic statement to students,^[51] and he encouraged students to call out their teachers when they promoted left-wing content.^[52] Bolsonaro has attempted to remove left-wing bias from the history content in Brazilian schools.^[53]

President Bolsonaro succeeded in increasing security and reducing left-wing influences in Brazil's public schools.^[54]

Social issues

On his first day in office, President Bolsonaro signed a decree removing LGBT issues from the list of concerns of the human rights ministry,^[39][55] and he signed another decree increasing oversight over NGOs and international organizations, which he argued inhibited indigenous integration into Brazilian society.^[56]

President Bolsonaro created a national week to raise awareness of teen pregnancy in order to prevent it.^[57]

In January 2019, President Bolsonaro announced he would end a program to create an "indigenous cryptocurrency."^[58]

President Bolsonaro abolished the culture ministry shortly after assuming office.^[59][60]

Pro-life Brazilian governmental officials vocally supported pro-life policies at the UN.^[61]

President Bolsonaro made numerous changes to environmental policy.^[62] In May 2019, he fired a far-left activist from his role as the leader of a government-controlled climate change group.^[63]

On May 21, 2019, President Bolsonaro signed a proclamation consecrating Brazil to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.^[64]

Foreign policy

Bolsonaro and U.S. President Donald Trump in March 2019

On his first day in office, President Bolsonaro signed a decree giving Brazil's government strong oversight over international organizations operating in Brazil.^[56] Meanwhile, Brazil's foreign minister, Ernesto Araújo, stated that Brazil would reject globalism and oversight by international organizations.^[42][65] In January 2019, Bolsonaro stated Brazil would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem,^[66] though in March 2019, he announced Brazil would open a trade office in Jerusalem "as a part of its embassy in Israel."^[67] Bolsonaro became the first Brazilian president to visit the Western Wall while being accompanied by a senior Israeli official.^[68]

In January 2019, President Bolsonaro withdrew Brazil from the UN Migrant Treaty, citing a desire to protect the country's national sovereignty.^[69]

President Bolsonaro extradited a communist terrorist to Italy, where he had been wanted for several decades.^[70] He refused to recognize Nicolás Maduro's Marxist Venezuelan government after a disputed election.^[71]

Bolsonaro's first foreign trip was to the United States rather than Argentina, breaking a Brazilian precedent.^[72]

Bolsonaro, however, advocated for and advanced plans for a monetary union between Brazil and Argentina, something which would reduce Brazilian national sovereignty.^[73]

Views

In its eighth consecutive term, Jair Bolsonaro is one of the most admired personalities and at the same time one of the most hated in Brazil. Bolsonaro is the most conservative and right-wing politician on the Brazilian political spectrum, and for defending Christian,^[74][75] family,^[76] traditional and conservative values, has been falsely labeled by the Brazilian media as "Nazi",^[77] "homophobic",^[78] "racist",^[79] "fascist",^[80] "sexist"^[81] and "white supremacist". The international mainstream media has also been extremely biased against Bolsonaro.^[82] He has been compared to U.S. President Donald Trump and even has the nickname "Tropical Trump."^[9][1][83]

Bolsonaro takes strongly pro-life positions,^[76][84][74] and he is critical of Carnival because of its immoral and degenerate practices.^[85] He supports strong law and order policies on crime,^[86] and he has a good relationship with Brazil's military.^[87] He accurately condemns national socialism as a left-wing ideology.^[88]

When he was first elected for the first time, Bolsonaro had a more friendly stance toward economic interventionism. Over the years, however, Bolsonaro has come to strongly support limited government, a free market without bureaucracy, and privatization.^{[10][89][90][3]}

On foreign policy issues, Bolsonaro has voiced support for nationalist policies similar to those of President Trump,^[3][91][92] and he views the United States positively.^[93] Bolsonaro takes strongly pro-Israel positions,^[76][74][94] supporting moving Brazil's embassy to Jerusalem, something he affirmed he would do after his election,^[95][96] and closing the "Palestinian" embassy in Brazil.^[97][98] He is seen as a critic of China,^[99] Venezuela,^[100] and Cuba.^[101] However, after his election, he stated that he welcomed increased Chinese investment and trade.^[102] Bolsonaro was critical of the globalist Mercosur trade agreement,^[103] though he continued integrating Brazil into the organization.^[104] Bolsonaro is strongly anti-communist, even stating in a speech after his election as president that he had "an obligation" to fight communism in Latin America.^[105] He has made similar statements on the need for him to fight the Left.^[106]

Bolsonaro is a critic of the left-wing mainstream media.^[107]

While originally pledging to leave the globalist Paris climate agreement, Bolsonaro later retracted that conservative promise.^[108]

Personal life

Bolsonaro has been married three times, and he has five children, with his three oldest sons – including Eduardo Bolsonaro – also serving as conservative elected officials. Bolsonaro has been baptized in the Jordan River.^[109]

See also

• National conservatism
• Nationalism

References