Brazil's Bolsonaro says he intends to use armed forces to fight violence

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

OCTOBER 21, 2018 / 3:00 PM / UPDATED 7 MINUTES AGO

Maria Carolina Marcello
2 MIN READ

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil’s leading presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro said on Sunday that, if he is elected, he intends to use the armed forces for routine street patrols, describing the country as “at war.”

. . .

“If Congress grants permission, I would put armed forces in the streets,” Bolsonaro said.

A 63-year-old, seven-term congressman who openly defends Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship, Bolsonaro is widely expected to win the presidency this month. Opinion polls show him leading his leftist rival Fernando Haddad by 18 percentage points just a week ahead of the Oct. 28 second-round vote.

. . .

Bolsonaro, a polarizing candidate who has been charged with hate speech for his comments regarding gays, blacks and women, has pitched himself as the anti-establishment choice, appealing to voters fed up with political corruption and violent crime.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-election/brazils-bolsonaro-says-he-intends-to-use-armed-forces-to-fight-violence-idUSKCN1MV0W8?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29&&rpc=401

[sandensea]

1. Cheeto's buddy Macri tried that in neighboring Argentina

Two indigenous rights protesters were murdered (you might recall the Santiago Maldonado and Rafael Nahuel cases), and crime is up 35%.

The military leadership themselves are quietly asking that the policy be rescinded, since it encourages extremist elements to become loose cannons and ultimately only discredits the armed forces themselves.

Thanks for posting this, Judi, and for always keeping up with news from Brazil.

Brazil may seem far away; but you know how easily influenced Cheeto is by right-wing authoritarians.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Bolsonaro's Choice For Agriculture Sees Opportunity For Legal Logging In The Amazon

Nabhan Garcia also says that concern over climate change is exaggerated and doesn't want to dialogue with the Landless Workers Movement

Eduardo Scolese
SÃO PAULO
A friend of Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) and under consideration for the Ministry of Agriculture if the candidate wins the election, Luiz Antonio Nabhan Garcia, 60, advocates for the merging of the department with the ministries of Agrarian Development and Environment, in order to, as he says, do away with an "ideological mess" in environmental issues.

"There's this fantasy, this legend, that in Brazil, the person who damages the environment is the farmer. It's the opposite," says Nabhan, who presides the UDR (the acronym for Democratic Association of Ruralists) and Bolsonaro's advisor in agriculture matters.

Like the candidate, Nabhan favors Brazil leaving the Paris Agreement and thinks there is a "fine industry" from the part of environmental inspectors. He also thinks that there is "a lot of myth" surrounding climate change.

More:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2018/10/bolsonaros-choice-for-agriculture-sees-opportunity-for-legal-logging-in-the-amazon.shtml

[sanatanadharma]

3. I am living in Uruguay to escape Trump, now he is "en el norte"

The Uruguayans defeated the 'dictadora' more than three decades ago. There is a proud liberal national identity of inclusion. The regressive forces in Brazil and Argentina are a big concern.
Here there is a retired general who was part of the 'dictadora' and he is saying there never was a dictatorship and saying there is no democracy in Uruguay now. Scary!

Uruguayans are very attentive to politics; voting is mandatory (iirc). Uruguay also has all the city-rural, conservative-liberal, rich-poor, educated-not fractures found in the E.E.U.U.
The presidential election is in February next (5 year term), however, as of now the candidates have not yet been chosen (by their parties).
One businessman who doesn't live here, is not connected to any party, claims million-arism yet is in big debt has announced his trumpish intentions to place his name in the ring.

[Snellius]

4. Don't fight fire with fire. Fight fire with gasoline.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Olavo de Carvalho Instigates Violence; Fellow Citizens, Please Renounce Him

A Facebook post from the conservative writer announces a series of violent acts and asks followers to carry them out
Oct.15.2018 9:02AM

Caetano Veloso
Olavo de Carvalho recently suggested in a post on social media that, should Bolsonaro be elected, immediately after the new president takes office, his opposition will be not only defeated, but totally destroyed and groups, institutions, and even individuals.

He says that the people who consider Bolsonaro a threat to democracy are not fighting to win an election, but fighting "for political, social, and even physical survival." This is an announcement of a murderous
authoritarianism.

Bolsonaro has said that the dictatorship "killed too little". He has used a camera tripod as a rifle, pretending to shoot PT followers. He has praised the Coronel Brilhante Ustra, known for torturing and killing people during the military dictatorship. When a crazy man stabbed him, all the other presidential runners vehemently condemned the act and its perpetrator. But when one of his voters killed an artist who said out loud he voted for PT, Bolsonaro said he had nothing to do with it.

Carvalho's post announces a series of violent acts and asks his followers to carry them out as soon as Bolsonaro arrives (if he arrives) to the Alvorada (Brazil's presidential residence).

More:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/opinion/2018/10/olavo-de-carvalho-instigates-violence-fellow-citizens-please-renounce-him.shtml?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsen

[Judi Lynn]

6. Social Media War in Brazil Pushes Far-Right Candidate Toward Presidency

BY
Michael Fox, 
Truthout
PUBLISHED
October 21, 2018

Gviovani Baffo is a poet and a street artist in Sao Paulo’s trendy Vila Madalena neighborhood. With a thick, unkempt beard and a red Nike t-shirt, he is not the prototypical image of a political analyst. But his words just days before the first round of Brazil’s presidential election on October 7 were wisdom far beyond that of most political pundits.

“Our election will not be decided by the candidates’ proposals or their speeches. It will be decided by the lies spread online,” he told Truthout, under the thick grey sky of the country’s largest city. “The Brazilian elections will be decided by the ability of some groups to push ‘fake news’ and the ability of us [voters] to discern what is and what is not real.”

The day before Baffo uttered this prediction, former Sao Paulo Mayor and leftist Workers Party candidate Fernando Haddad had held a press conference to denounce a barrage of distorted information against his campaign, himself and his family, particularly spread over the Facebook-owned messaging application WhatsApp.

Haddad announced that his team had opened a WhatsApp hotline to receive complaints of false or misleading news and memes over the platform. Within 24 hours, they received 15,000 messages.

More:
https://truthout.org/articles/social-media-war-in-brazil-pushes-far-right-candidate-toward-presidency/