US President Donald Trump congratulates controversial Brazilian president-elect Jair Bolsonaro
DONALD Trump and his right-wing supporters have celebrated the election victory of Brazil’s divisive far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro. Others are appalled.
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has congratulated controversial far-right Brazilian politician Jair Bolsonaro on his presidential election win, as right-wing voters in both countries praise the result.
Mr Bolsonaro, who has waxed lyrical about Brazil’s old military dictatorship and is often dubbed the “Donald Trump of Brazil”, won the presidency of Latin America’s largest nation by a landslide in a bitterly divisive vote marred by violence.
Official results gave the president-elect 55.13 per cent of the vote to 44.87 for his leftist opponent Fernando Haddad. He will take office on January 1, 2019.
In his victory speech, broadcast live from his home on Facebook — the platform he has used to campaign since an attacker stabbed him in the stomach at a rally on September 6 — Mr Bolsonaro pledged to govern Brazil “following the Bible” and to stamp out “extremism to the left”.
“We cannot continue flirting with socialism, communism, populism and the extremism of the left,” he said.
Taking to Twitter, President Trump congratulated Mr Bolsonaro and said he had an “excellent call” with the brash politician where they agreed that Brazil and the United States will work “closely”. Mr Trump also pointed out that Mr Bolsonaro, 63, won the race by a “substantial margin”.
Had a very good conversation with the newly elected President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who won his race by a substantial margin. We agreed that Brazil and the United States will work closely together on Trade, Military and everything else! Excellent call, wished him congrats!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2018
Nicknamed the “Tropical Trump” by some, Mr Bolsonaro has publicly admired the American leader.
It should come as no surprise then that far-right voters in the US and Brazil have joined the US President in celebrating the result as a powerful partnership between two countries in the fight against the left.
we have admiration for your country and we want our nation to align with the US so that we can become great as you one day and free from communism and socialism! We are together so we can be great together
— Cliff Parizi (@Cliffparizi) October 29, 2018
Thanks for supporting our newly elected president @jairbolsonaro! That's a meaningful victory against communism in this country. Let's make Brazil great again as you have been successfully doing in the US! Thanks President Trump. Wish you all the best there! 🇧🇷🇺🇸
— MariaR🤖bô🇧🇷😎👉ðŸ–ðŸ¿ðŸ–ðŸ»ðŸ–ðŸ¿âœŒ (@MariaMariaSant) October 29, 2018
Make America and Brazil Great! #BolsoTrump 🇧🇷🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/VzxkdsICB5
— Repórter Uber 1ï¸âƒ£7ï¸âƒ£ 😎👉👉 (@ReporterrUber) October 29, 2018
‘DANGEROUS TO THE PLANET’
The US President’s enthusiasm about the result stands in stark contrast to the concerns raised by rights groups.
Within minutes of Mr Bolsonaro’s victory being declared, international civil rights groups expressed concerns.
Human Rights Watch called on Brazil’s judiciary and other institutions to “resist any attempt to undermine human rights, the rule of law and democracy under Jair Bolsonaro’s government.”
Steve Schwartzman of the Environmental Defence Fund warned that Mr Bolsonaro’s promises about the environment would be “dangerous to the planet.”
The Brazilian president-elect has repeatedly said he would pull Brazil from the Paris agreement on climate change, though last week he did back off on that, and he issued a series of campaign pledges that left many fearing for the future of the Amazon, known as “the lungs of the planet”.
Pledges included a promise to merge Brazil’s agriculture and environment ministries into one, saying “we won’t have any more fights” over ecological concerns on deforestation.
And he raised the prospect of building hydro-electric power stations in the Amazon that would greatly restrict water access and forcibly remove indigenous communities. He even mooted a rail line through the heart of the rainforest.
“If [Mr Bolsonaro] decides to move forward with his pledges against the environment, indigenous peoples and the climate, his fellow citizens will be the biggest victims,” said Carlos Rittl, executive secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory, according to the AFP.
“To increase deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions is to leave each and everyone of us more vulnerable to an increasing risk of climate extremes.”
Deforestation is responsible for about a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions and intensifies global warming.
VOW TO RESIST
Mr Bolsonaro’s left-wing rival voters have also vowed to resist a Bolsonaro presidency. During the course of the controversial presidential campaign, Mr Bolsonaro repulsed many with his open support of the torture used by Brazil’s former military regime, as well as remarks deemed misogynist, racist and homophobic.
He once told a lawmaker he opposed that she “wasn’t worth raping”, he has said he would rather see his sons die than come out as gay, and he commented after visiting one black community that they “do nothing — they’re so useless I doubt they can procreate”.
Fernando Haddad, a former Sao Paulo mayor, declared he would fight to “defend the freedoms of those 45 million people” who voted for him, after Mr Bolsonaro vowed late in the campaign to “cleanse” Brazil of leftist “reds”.
“Fascists!” shouted tearful supporters at the headquarters of Haddad’s Workers’ Party in Sao Paulo.
“I’m surprised Brazilians would vote for hate, for guns,” Flavia Castelhanos, 31, told AFP after wiping away her tears, wearing a pin that said “Not him”.
He’s a Trump kind of guy for sure. Speaks of hatred for gays, that climate change is a hoax, misogyny is his thing. You are 2 hateful peas in a loathsome pod.
— Debby Carroll (@thefamilycrypt) October 29, 2018
Left-wing voters in the US have also shared their sadness and concern on social media, perhaps as a warning for what they believe Brazil can expect under a “Tropical Trump” government.
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