Brazil’s new leader has made countless divisive statements about torture, democracy, women, gay people and others during his rise to power. We look at some of them.
Jair Bolsonaro’s climb to power has been marked by divisive rhetoric and offensive speech that has thrilled followers and appalled critics in equal measure.
The far-right former army captain’s rise has left some baffled. Mr. Bolsonaro served seven consecutive terms in Congress, with little to show for his time there — very few of his bills were approved.
But many Brazilians, angered by their country’s economic crisis, soaring violence and corruption scandals interpreted his long list of caustic remarks as blunt but bracingly honest talk from a man willing to say — and do — whatever was necessary to bring about the change they craved.
Mr. Bolsonaro has described having a female child as a “weakness,” and has said he would not treat or pay women the same as men in the workplace.
In 2014, he told a fellow lawmaker:
In 2013, he said that he would “rather have a son who is an addict than a son who is gay,” and that he was “proud to be homophobic.”
In June 2011, he said he would “rather his son die in a car accident than be gay,” adding:
In April 2017, Mr. Bolsonaro spoke about visiting traditional Afro-Brazilian communities. He described the weight of the residents using the word “arrobas,” an outdated unit used to weigh cattle and agricultural products.
Mr. Bolsonaro advocates it:
In April 2016, when President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment was put to a vote in Congress, Mr. Bolsonaro dedicated his vote to a colonel who ran a torture center during the country’s military dictatorship in which Ms. Rousseff was tortured in her youth:
After criticizing Brazil’s government during a 1999 interview, Mr. Bolsonaro was asked whether he would shut down Congress if he were president. He said:
In the same interview he also said:
At a rally in São Paulo on Oct. 21, Mr. Bolsonaro vowed to imprison or exile his political opponents once in office:
Mr. Bolsonaro has said he would curtail efforts to protect the environment and indigenous land:
Mr. Bolsonaro has also said that there were far too many indigenous reservations in the Amazon:
