Jair Bolsonaro, The Rise and Fall of Right-wing Brazilian Leader

Former President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday suffered the biggest blow of his long political career: his eight-year banishment for systematically attacking the foundations of Brazilian democracy with “terrible lies”, as dictated by electoral justice.

(Also Read: Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Ineligible To Hold Public Office For Eight Years)

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has decided, by 5 votes in favor and 2 against, to convict the Brazilian far-right leader for his abuse of political power in the 2022 elections, In it he tried unsuccessfully to stay in power and Luis Inácio Lula da Silva wonAnd strip him of his political rights until 2030.

A 68-year-old retired Army captain may not run for elective office or hold positions in public administration when he turns 75.

His desire to run for the 2026 presidential election, as he stated during the trial, has faded away for the time being, as there is still an appeal to overturn the ruling.

Evangelicals, the military, apologists and ultra-economic liberals remained united with Bolsonaro under his motto: “God, country, family and freedom.” Logo copied from the one used by the Green Shirts.the fascists who in Brazil in the 1930s tried to emulate the doctrines of Benito Mussolini.

Bolsonaro found inspiration in his “friend” Donald Trump and is ideologically connected with other conservative leaders, such as the Italian Giorgia Meloni, the Hungarian Viktor Orbán, the Chilean Jose Antonio Kast or the Spanish Santiago Abascal.

(Also read: ‘It was a stab in the back’: Jair Bolsonaro’s reaction to his political incompetence)

The deep hatred of “communism”, the rejection of “gender ideology”, the lack of commitment to environmentalism, the denial of the Covid-19 epidemic and its baseless suspicions of the electoral system crowned his term with controversy (2019-2022).

Nostalgic for Dictatorship (1964-1985), the far-right leader applauds and smiles at his followers when they cheer him on to shut down Parliament and the Supreme Court, demonstrations he protects under freedom of speech.

His silence after the election, without openly acknowledging defeat and without appeasing his followers who remained outside the barracks demanding military intervention to overthrow Lula, was followed by the anti-democratic actions of 8 January.

On that day, a week after Lula took power, thousands of radical Bolsonaro stormed and ransacked the headquarters of the three powers in Brasilia, while Bolsonaro was in the United States, where he had traveled two days before leaving the presidency.

A descendant of Italian immigrants, Jair Messias Bolsonaro was born on March 21, 1955 into a family of modest means in the interior of São Paulo, a key period for understanding anti-communism.

(Also read: “On the Other Side”: The Immigrant Gallery You Can See at Espacio El Dorado)

Those were dictatorial times, and the clashes between the militia and the army that took place in that region would affect him forever.

That was the seed that led him to join the Agulhas Negras Military School in Rio de Janeiro. It was formed in 1977. He joined the Paratroopers Brigade and was promoted to Captain. In 1986, with democracy already restored, he wrote an explosive article in the press in which he demanded better salaries for the class, almost calling for insurrection.

Shortly after he left the barracks to start his political career. He was a Rio de Janeiro councilor and federal deputy for nearly three decades. In 2018 he appeared in person and won it in the second round after a campaign marred by a knife he received from a man who slipped through the crowd. In 2022 he lost re-election to his biggest political opponent, the progressive Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Today he is disabled after Brazilian democracy was stretched to its limits.

EFE

More news at EL TIEMPO

Colombia is the deadliest country in Latin America for LGBT people: a special report

UNICEF warns that ‘Haiti is becoming a forgotten crisis’