Jair Bolsonaro
Anitta Takes a Stand on Brazil’s Presidential Election – And Her Influence Could Help Sway Voters
With fewer than three months to go before the next presidential elections in her country, megastar Anitta has officially declared her support for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a left-wing former Brazilian president who is leading in the polls against far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Anitta stated her position on Twitter on Monday (July 11), two days after a leftist official supporting da Silva, the Workers’ Party candidate who is better known as Lula, was brutally murdered at his own birthday party by a Bolsonaro supporter in the state of Paraná in the country’s south. “If there had been no murder involved … I’d say that the stupidity of these people is almost funny. But it’s not. It’s frightening,” Anitta tweeted, referencing Bolsonaro supporters. “I’m not a Worker’s Party supporter, and ...
Majority of Brazilians support impeaching President Bolsonaro, poll shows
For the first time, a majority of Brazilians support impeaching President Jair Bolsonaro, according to a poll released on Saturday, as serious graft allegations related to vaccine procurement hit the right-wing leader’s already battered image. According to the survey by Datafolha, 54% of Brazilians support a proposed move by the country’s lower house to open impeachment proceedings against Bolsonaro, while 42% oppose it. In the last Datafolha survey on the issue, released in May, supporters and opponents of impeachment were essentially tied. In a separate Datafolha poll, released on Thursday, 51% of Brazilians said they disapproved of Bolsonaro, the highest figure since he took office in January 2019. In recent weeks, Brasilia has been rocked by allegations that federal officials solicited...
Brazilian potential presidential candidate announces he is gay
Brazilian governor and potential major party presidential candidate Eduardo Leite, a prominent critic of President Jair Bolsonaro, came out as gay in a TV interview. Leite, governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, would be the first openly gay presidential candidate in Brazil. Anti-gay rhetoric has been a staple of speeches by Bolsonaro, who once declared that if he had a gay son, he would rather the child died in an accident. “I have never spoken about a subject related to my private life,” Leite told Brazilian journalist Pedro Bial in a TV interview on Thursday evening. “But during this moment of low integrity in Brazil, I have nothing to hide, I am gay. I am a governor who is gay, not a gay governor, as former President Obama in the US was a president who was Black, not a Bl...
Brazilian president fined for not wearing mask
Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, has been fined for not wearing a mask as he joined thousands of motorcyclists at a rally in Sao Paulo. Bolsonaro waved from his bike to the cheering crowd as he used the occasion to insist masks were useless for vaccinated people. The rally snaked in and out of the city, arriving back at Ibirapuera Park, where the far-right leader addressed supporters and said mask-wearing for vaccinated people was pointless. However, President Bolsonaro’s claim has been disputed by most health experts. “Whoever is against this proposal is because they don’t believe in science, because if they are vaccinated, there is no way the virus can be transmitted,” said Bolsonaro. Under 12% of Brazilians have had both doses of a vaccine, the ministry of health says, and many expe...
Brazil federal prosecutor appeals decision to annul Lula da Silva’s convictions
The office of Brazil’s prosecutor general on Friday appealed a Supreme Court judge’s ruling earlier this week that annulled the criminal convictions of former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. If successful, the appeal could close the door on the popular politician running in next year’s presidential election, which had become a reality after Monday’s surprise decision by Justice Edson Fachin. Two opinion polls published on Friday, the first since Lula’s convictions were annulled, showed that President Jair Bolsonaro is still favored to win the 2022 election but his advantage has shrunk, and one said 61% do not approve of his handling of the pandemic that has taken 270,000 lives. The survey for Exame business news magazine by pollster Ideia found that Bolsonaro would win a run-o...
Nigerian doctor named one of TIME’s Most Influential People in the world
TIME named Nigerian physician Tunji Funsho to the 2020 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The full list and related tributes are available now at time.com/time100, and Mr Funsho’s TIME100 profile is available here. The list, now in its seventeenth year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. Mr Funsho, a cardiologist based in Lagos, Nigeria, is the first Rotary member to receive this honour for the organisation’s work to eradicate polio, having played an essential role in ensuring Africa’s certification as wild polio-free in August of 2020. “I’m honored to be recognized by TIME for my part in ensuring that no child in Africa will ever again be paralyzed by wild polio, a disease that once disabl...
Brazil court fires Rio governor over corruption
Brazil’s High Court of Justice removed Rio de Janeiro Governor Wilson Witzel from office Friday, as police raided his official residence in a probe into accusations he stole emergency funds to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The raids also targeted the far-right governor’s wife and inner circle. Among those arrested was Pastor Everaldo, an evangelical preacher and leader of Witzel’s Christian Social Party. Helicopters circled over the stately governor’s residence, Laranjeiras Palace, starting at dawn as federal police executed a sweeping series of search and seizure orders and arrest warrants. The court ruling suspends Witzel, 52, from office for at least 180 days as authorities investigate claims he took a reported 274.2 million reals ($50 million) in kickbacks. “This criminal organizatio...
Brazilian president’s son contracts coronavirus
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, said Tuesday he has tested positive for the new coronavirus but was asymptomatic. The 39-year-old senator’s office said in a statement he was “feeling fine,” isolating at home and taking the anti-malaria drug chloroquine, which his father has aggressively pushed as a treatment for COVID-19 despite studies finding it is ineffective against the virus. Known for his staunch support of his father, the younger Bolsonaro is under investigation for an alleged embezzlement scheme when he was a state lawmaker for Rio de Janeiro. He is the fourth member of the presidential family to test positive for the virus. Bolsonaro himself, 65, caught it last month, forcing the far-right leader, a fierce critic of lockdown measures agai...
Brazil education minister resigns over plagiarism, CV ‘lies’
Brazil’s education minister resigned Tuesday only five days after he was appointed, amid accusations that he lied over his academic record. Carlos Alberto Decotelli was the first black person to be appointed to the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Decotelli handed in his resignation to Bolsonaro in Brasilia, said a spokesman, Paulo Roberto, capping several days of controversy. Bolsonaro named Decotelli last week as replacement for Abraham Weintraub, who resigned in mid-June after becoming embroiled in a series of controversies, including making racist anti-Chinese comments on Twitter. Decotelli had claimed he held a Master’s degree from Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation, a doctorate from Argentina’s University of Rosario and a post-doctorate from Germany’s Wuppertal Unive...