Jair Bolsonaro. 21 June 2016. Flickr/Agência Brasil Fotografias. Some rights reserved.
On April 4, Christian Social Party congressman Jair Messias Bolsonaro gave a racially charged speech at the Hebraica Club in Rio de Janeiro. The speech made headline news, but it is just another stone paving the path of controversies that describe his political career. During his speech before some 500 people, he claimed that people living in reservations were “parasites”, that quilombolas (black community members, descendants of runaway slaves) “weren't even fit for breeding”, that NGOs and social movements were stealing the country's resources, and that the only way to fight crime was handing out guns to the population.
Under him as president, the pre-candidate claimed – presidential elections in Brazil are due next year -, there would be zero land space for reservations, zero funds for NGOs and social movements, and a gun in each house to “fight the bad guys” – meaning members of the Land Reform Movement (MST), among others.
