Jair Bolsonaro
Jair Messias Bolsonaro is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies from 1991 to 2018. Bolsonaro began serving in the Brazilian Army in 1973 and graduated from the Military Academy of Agulhas Negras in 1977. He rose to publicity in 1986 after he wrote an article for Veja magazine criticizing low wages for military officers, after which he was arrested and detained for fifteen days. He left the army and was elected to the Municipal Chamber of Rio de Janeiro two years later. In 1990, Bolsonaro was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a representative for the state of Rio de Janeiro. During his 27-year tenure as a congressman, he became known for his national conservatism. Bolsonaro entered the 2018 Brazilian presidential election, during which he started to advocate economically liberal and pro-market policies. He led in the 7 October first round results and defeated Fernando Haddad in the 28 October runoff. Bolsonaro focused on domestic affairs in his first months as president, dealing primarily with the fallout of the 2014 Brazilian economic crisis. The economy recovered slowly, while crime rates fell sharply during the first year. He rolled back protections for Indigenous groups in the Amazon rainforest and facilitated its deforestation. Bolsonaro's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil was criticized across the political spectrum after he sought to downplay the pandemic and its effects, opposed quarantine measures, and dismissed two health ministers, while the death toll increased rapidly. In the runoff of the 2022 general election, Bolsonaro lost to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. On 8 January 2023, his supporters stormed federal government buildings, calling for a coup d'état. On 30 June, the Superior Electoral Court blocked Bolsonaro from seeking office until 2030 for attempting to undermine the validity of the election through his unfounded claims of voter fraud, and for abusing his power by using government communication channels to both promote his campaign and to allege fraud. Testimonies from military officials showed that Bolsonaro had allegedly planned a self-coup with the military to keep himself in power. A polarizing and controversial politician, Bolsonaro's views and comments, which have been described as far-right and populist, drew both praise and criticism in Brazil. He is a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, abortion, affirmative action, drug liberalization, and secularism. In foreign policy, he has advocated closer relations with Israel and with the United States; later in his presidency, he also made efforts to improve relations with the BRICS countries.
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