Jair Messias Bolsonaro (Brazilian Portuguese:[ʒaˈiʁmeˈsi.ɐzbowsoˈnaɾu]ⓘ; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38thpresident of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of theChamber of Deputies from 1991 to 2019.
Bolsonaro focused on domestic affairs in his first months as president, dealing primarily with the fallout of the2014 Brazilian economic crisis. The economy recovered slowly, while crime rates fell sharply during the first year.[3][4] He rolled back protections forIndigenous groups in theAmazon rainforest[5] and facilitated itsdeforestation.[6] Bolsonaro's response to theCOVID-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.[7]
In the2022 general election Bolsonaro lost toLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva.[21] On 8 January 2023 a mob of Bolsonaro's supportersstormed federal government buildings, calling for acoup d'état. On 30 June theSuperior 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. Testimony from military officials showed that Bolsonaro hadplanned a self-coup with the military to keep himself in power.[22]
Jair Messias Bolsonaro was born on 21 March 1955 inGlicério, São Paulo,[30] insoutheast Brazil, to Percy Geraldo Bolsonaro and Olinda Bonturi.[31][32] His family is mostly ofItalian descent, withGerman ancestry as well. On his father's side, he is the great-grandson of Italians fromVeneto andCalabria.[33] Bolsonaro's paternal grandfather's family comes from Veneto, more preciselyAnguillara Veneta, in theprovince of Padua. His great-grandfather Vittorio Bolzonaro (the surname was originally written with a "z"), was born on 12 April 1878. Vittorio's parents immigrated to Brazil when he was ten, together with his siblings, Giovanna and Tranquillo.[34][33] His German ancestry came from his father's maternal grandfather, Carl "Carlos" Hintze, born inHamburg around 1876, who immigrated to Brazil in 1883.[33] His maternal grandparents were born inLucca, inTuscany, and went to live in Brazil in the 1890s.[33] On 21 January 2022 his mother, Olinda Bonturi Bolsonaro, died at age 94. His father, Percy Geraldo Bolsonaro, died in 1995.[35]
Bolsonaro spent most of his childhood moving around São Paulo with his family, living inRibeira,Jundiaí, andSete Barras, before settling inEldorado, in the state's southern region, in 1966, where he grew up with his five siblings.[36] His first name is a tribute toJair da Rosa Pinto, a football player forPalmeiras, with whom he shares a birthday.[37][38]
Military career
Jair (left) with his parents at the Military Academy of Agulhas Negras in 1979
Bolsonaro in 1986
In his final years in high school Bolsonaro was admitted to theEscola Preparatória de Cadetes do Exército (the prep school of theBrazilian Army), which he entered in 1973. In 1974 he went to theMilitary Academy of Agulhas Negras (Brazil's premier military academy), graduating in 1977 as anartillery officer. He served in the 9th Field Artillery Group, inNioaque, Mato Grosso do Sul. Later, he studied at the Army Physical Training School inRio de Janeiro and served in the 21st Field Artillery Group and the 8th Paratrooper Field Artillery Group, from theParatrooper Brigade, also based in Rio. His superior officers described him as "aggressive" and criticized his "excessive ambition for financial and economic gain." This assessment referred to Bolsonaro's attempt to mine gold inBahia, though he later claimed the activity was merely a "hobby and mental hygiene".[8][39]
In 1987 he studied in theOfficers Improvement School [pt], where he made the Artillery Advanced Course. Bolsonaro first rose to public attention in 1986 when he gave an interview to the news magazineVeja. He complained about low military salaries and claimed that the High Command was dismissing officers due to budgetary cuts, not because they were displaying "deviations of conduct", as the command had told the press.[40] Despite being reprimanded by his superiors, Bolsonaro received praise from fellow officers and wives of military men, becoming a household name for hardliners and right-wingers who were growing disenchanted with Brazil's new civilian democratic government.[41]
In October 1987 Bolsonaro faced a new accusation.Veja reported that, with an Army colleague, he had plans to plant bombs in military units inRio de Janeiro. After Bolsonaro called the allegation "a fantasy", the magazine published, in its next issue, sketches allegedly made by Bolsonaro in which the plan was detailed. Official records unearthed by the newspaperO Estado de S. Paulo in 2018 detailed the case. After an investigation by an administrative military bureau called a Justification Board, Bolsonaro was unanimously found guilty. According to the board, Bolsonaro had a "serious personality deviation and a professional deformation", "lack of moral courage to leave the Army" and "lied throughout the process" when denying frequent contacts withVeja. The Supreme Military Court then analysed the case. The general in charge of reporting the case voted to acquit Bolsonaro, arguing that he had already been penalized for the initialVeja article, that there was no testimonial evidence of his plans to plant bombs, and that there were "deep contradictions in the four graphological exams", two of which failed to conclude that Bolsonaro was the author of the sketches. Bolsonaro was acquitted by the majority of the court (9v 4votes). In December 1988, just after this ruling, he left the Army to begin his political career. He served in the military for 15 years, reaching the rank of captain.[42]
Early political career
City councilor in Rio de Janeiro (1989–1991)
Bolsonaro asRio de Janeiro city councilor in March 1990. In October of the same year, he was elected as a federal deputy for the city.
Bolsonaro entered politics in 1988, when he was elected to serve as acity councilor in Rio de Janeiro, representing theChristian Democratic Party (PDC). According to the biography by his son Flávio, Bolsonaro "was a candidate for councilor because it happened to be the only option he had at the moment to avoid persecution by some superiors. His entry into politics happened by chance, for his desire was to continue in his military career".[43]
Bolsonaro spent only two years in theMunicipal Chamber of Rio de Janeiro. He was described as a quiet, discreet and conservative councilor, and showed little participation.[44] His term as councilor was used mainly to give visibility to military causes, such as retirement benefits for former officers.[43]
Federal deputy for Rio de Janeiro (1991–2018)
In the 1990 elections Bolsonaro was elected afederal deputy for the Christian Democratic Party. He served seven consecutive terms, from 1991 to 2018. He has been affiliated with several other political parties over the years. In 2014 he was the congressman who gained the most votes in Rio de Janeiro, with 465,000.[45]
Bolsonaro's name was listed on the "Lista de Furnas [pt]", a list detailing a corruption and money laundering scheme involving the state-owned electricity company,Eletrobras Furnas.[46] He received housing assistance for deputies who do not have residences in the capitalBrasília, despite having an apartment in the southwest of the city. He has later admitted that he considers this practice of his "immoral".[47] He has also been accused of engaging in fuel allowance fraud.[48]
In his 27 years of service in theNational Congress, Bolsonaro put forward one constitutional amendment and at least 171 bills, two of which became law.[49] Bolsonaro, who claimed to be persecuted by the left-wing parties, said most congressmen do not vote according to their agenda, but "by who the author of the bill is".[50]
On 22 July 2018 the PSL nominated Bolsonaro for president in the2018 election.[53] TheBrazilian Labour Renewal Party also endorsed him. His coalition name was "Brazil above everything, God above everyone" (Brasil acima de tudo, Deus acima de todos).[54][55] Though contested by two lawsuits, theSuperior Electoral Court of Brazil deferred them and his candidacy was made official on 6 August.[56] In August Bolsonaro announced thatAntônio Hamilton Mourão, a retired army general, would be his running mate.[57]
Bolsonaro supporters in London, October 2018
According to political pundits, Bolsonaro moderated his tone early in the campaign, taking a less aggressive and confrontational style. Economically, he started to support less government intervention in the economy (in contrast to the past, when he defendeddevelopmentalist policies). On the other hand, he maintained his tough stance on crime and his defence of "traditional family values".[58] Bolsonaro also said he planned to cuttaxes across the board, particularly on inheritances and businesses, to generate growth and tackle unemployment.[59] He also promised moreausterity measures and cuts in government spending, but had difficulty naming the areas where he would make cuts. He also said he would work to diminish the federal government's size and bureaucracy by enacting a wide variety ofderegulation measures.[60] Bolsonaro's promises torestore security amidrecord high crime and to stamp out Brazil's rampantpolitical corruption won him huge popular support.[61] In October, he announced he would namePaulo Guedes, aliberal economist, as his finance minister.[62]
On 9 August 2018 Bolsonaro attended the first presidential debate of the year, organized by the TV networkRede Bandeirantes.[63] A week later, there was another debate atRedeTV![64] On 28 August he gave an interview toJornal Nacional, Brazil's highest-rated primetime news programme, atRede Globo.[65] Bolsonaro was the first presidential candidate to raise overR$1 million in donations from the public during the 2018 campaign. In the first 59 days, he amassed an average of R$17,000 per day.[66]
After theWorkers' Party candidateLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva was arrested in April 2018, Bolsonaro became the frontrunner according to all major opinion polls.[67][68] ADatafolha poll from September showed Bolsonaro as the leading candidate in the first round with 28% of vote intentions, though runoff scenarios showed him losing toGeraldo Alckmin,Fernando Haddad, andCiro Gomes and tying withMarina Silva.[69] AnotherDatafolha poll, conducted the week before election day, showed a considerable surge for Bolsonaro, who had 40% of vote intentions, or 36% when null or blank vote intentions were included. Haddad came in second with 25% and Gomes third with 15%.[70]
Bolsonaro is known for hisfinger-gun gesture, which he used during the presidential campaign.
In the first round of the election, on 7October 2018, Bolsonaro finished in first place with 46% of the popular vote (49.2 million). Since he failed to win over 50%, he faced the second-place finisher, Haddad, in the second round, held on 28 October 2018.[71] After the first round, when his victory looked certain, Bolsonaro gave a speech by videolink to thousands of supporters who gathered at Paulista Avenue, in São Paulo. In the speech he threatened to arrest, purge, or kill "reds" and "petralhas" (a derogatory term for Workers' Party members), and promised that members of the social movementsMST andMTST would be treated as "terrorists". He said: "This time, the clean-up will be even greater. This group ["reds"], if they want to stay, will have to abide by our laws... These red outlaws will be banned from our homeland. Either they go overseas, or they go to jail... Petralhada, you all go to the edge of the beach. It will be a cleaning never seen in the history of Brazil".[72][73] The "edge of the beach", a Bolsonaro aide later confirmed, was a reference to aNavy base atRestinga da Marambaia, in Rio de Janeiro State, where theBrazilian military dictatorship tortured and killed dissidents.[74] The speech was widely condemned by rivals, journalists and politicians.[75][76][77][78]
Bolsonaro won the second round of the election with 55.13% of the votes, and was elected the 38th president of Brazil.[79][80][81] He took office on 1January 2019.[82] During the campaign, academics repeatedly raised concerns about the consequences of Bolsonaro's rise for Brazilian democracy. In the news magazineForeign Policy,Federico Finchelstein, a historian at theNew School for Social Research who specializes in fascism, wrote, "Bolsonaro's vocabulary recalls the rhetoric behind Nazi policies of persecution and victimization. But does sounding like a Nazi make him a Nazi? Insomuch as he believes in holding elections, he is not there yet. However, things could change quickly if he gains power".[83]Jason Stanley, a philosopher atYale University who has published widely onNazism, said that Bolsonaro "uses more tactics associated to fascism than [the] American presidentDonald Trump".[84]Steven Levitsky, a political scientist atHarvard University, said that Bolsonaro "is clearly authoritarian", but not a fascist.[85] Similar concerns were raised by analysts in Portugal[86] and Brazil.[87] Others, such as theMarxist historianPerry Anderson, dismissed the "fascist" and "populist" labels altogether.[88]
Another highly controversial aspect of the campaign was the alleged use of illegal digital communication strategies by some of Bolsonaro's most important financial supporters. According to an investigation byFolha, one of Brazil's bestselling newspapers, "Bolsonaro has been getting an illegal helping hand from a group of Brazilian entrepreneurs who are bankrolling a campaign to bombardWhatsApp users withfake news about Haddad".[89] The suspicions led to a formal investigation by electoral authorities and the Federal Police; Bolsonaro and allies denied any wrongdoing.[90] Another controversial point was that Taíse Feijó, an adviser in Bolsonaro's government, was among those paid to feed fake news to his supporters.[91]
The moment Bolsonaro (center, yellow shirt) was attacked at theJuiz de Fora rally
Bolsonaro was stabbed in the abdomen on 6September 2018 while campaigning and interacting with supporters inJuiz de Fora, Minas Gerais.[92] At first, his sonFlávio Bolsonaro stated that his father's wounds were only superficial and he was recovering in the hospital,[93] but he later said the wounds seemed worse than initially thought[94] and his father most likely would not be able to start campaigning personally before the end of the first round.[95] He posted onTwitter about his father's condition, explaining that the perforation had reached parts of the liver, lung, and intestine. He also said that Bolsonaro had lost a large amount of blood, arriving at the hospital with severehypotension (hisblood pressure was 10/3, equivalent to 100/30 mmHg), but that he had since stabilized.[96][97][92] The attack was condemned by most of the other candidates in the presidential race, and by PresidentMichel Temer.[98] The day after the attack, Bolsonaro was transferred to theAlbert Einstein Israelite Hospital in São Paulo, after a request from his family. According to the doctors, he was in an "extremely stable" condition.[99]
Police arrested the attacker and identified him as Adélio Bispo de Oliveira, who, according to security agents, claimed he was on "a mission from God".[100] He had been a member of theSocialism and Liberty Party from 2007 to 2014. His social media posts included political criticisms of both Bolsonaro and Temer.[101] But an initial Federal Police investigation concluded that Adélio had no help from political organizations and acted alone.[102] A medical report produced for a second investigation concluded that Bispo is mentally disturbed, having a "permanent paranoid delusional disorder" which, according to Brazilian law, prevents him from being considered legally liable for his actions.[103] In a May 2019 decision the Federal Court found Bispo not liable. Bolsonaro did not appeal the decision.[104]
On 29 September, a month after the attack, Bolsonaro was released from the hospital and returned to his home in Rio de Janeiro. His condition prevented him from returning to the campaign trail for the remainder of the first round of the presidential election.[105] The first federal police investigation into the attack concluded that the attacker acted alone, but the investigation "leaves out many issues".[106] Bolsonaro said he did not observe "any effort by [the] former ministerSergio Moro to resolve the matter".[104] Joaquim de Carvalho has said that the police left out of their investigation the search for information by a mastermind of the attack or even a self-attack. For this, expert medical examination of Bolsonaro and review of the medical records would be needed.[107]
The same weekend he left the hospital, thousands of people took to the streets in dozens of cities in Brazil to protest against Bolsonaro and his political stances, chanting "Ele não" ("Not him").[111] There were also rallies in support of the candidate in sixteen states.[112]
Bolsonaro was sworn in as president on 1January 2019, succeedingMichel Temer.[113] Bolsonaro began toget his cabinet together before his inauguration, choosing the economistPaulo Guedes as his economy minister and the astronautMarcos Pontes as his science and technology minister.[114] Bolsonaro said his cabinet would have 15 members; in December when he announcedRicardo Salles as a minister, the total was 22. (His predecessor,Michel Temer, had a 29-member cabinet.)[115]
Bolsonaro's initialcabinet was composed of 16 ministers, two cabinet-level positions, and four presidential secretaries, including Chief of StaffOnyx Lorenzoni.[115] Bolsonaro's ministers includedOperation Car Wash judgeSergio Moro as Justice Minister and congresswomanTereza Cristina as Minister of Agriculture.[116][117] Bolsonaro placed many army officers in key positions in his cabinet. Before his inauguration, he said he would fill positions in his government based only on technical qualifications and skills rather than ideological sympathy; however, many appointees clashed ideologically with the government during his presidency and fell out of favor with Bolsonaro.[118] By June 2020 the ministers ofJustice andEducation, theSecretary of Government, the head of thepostal service and other government officials had already resigned.[119]
Early in his administration, Bolsonaro focused primarily on domestic and economic issues, ranging from tax reform to changes in social security, but he faced an uphill battle with Congress.[120] Bolsonaro stripped the indigenous affairs agencyFUNAI of the responsibility to identify and demarcateindigenous lands, arguing that those territories have tiny, isolated populations who would be controlled by NPOs, and proposed to integrate them into the larger Brazilian society. Critics feared that such integration would forceBrazilian Amerindians to suffercultural assimilation.[5] Argentine PresidentMauricio Macri was the first foreign leader Bolsonaro received on a state visit toBrasília after he became president.[121]
After his first year in power,Bolsonaro's popularity steadily declined. ADatafolha survey, published on 21 May 2019, showed that 28.6% of respondents described Bolsonaro's administration as "excellent" or "good", 31.3% as "average", and 36.2% as "bad" or "terrible"; 3.9% did not respond. This was the first poll in which more Brazilians disapproved of Bolsonaro's government than approved of it.[124] Meanwhile, after allegations of campaign-finance fraud, Bolsonaro firedGustavo Bebianno, a top adviser and general secretary for the president. The party that they both belonged to was accused of diverting public campaign funds to candidates who did not run for office.[125] In November 2019, Bolsonaro left the Social Liberal Party due to conflicts with its leadership. He attempted to form his own party,Alliance for Brazil (Portuguese:Aliança pelo Brasil),[126] but it failed to gather enough signatures to register at theSuperior Electoral Court for the2020 municipal elections or the2022 general election, leaving Bolsonaro without a party until 2021.[127][128]
Throughout theCOVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, Bolsonaro and his administration were accused of downplaying the crisis while the number of Brazilians infected by the virus climbed exponentially by mid-2020.[129] Bolsonaro claimed that COVID-19 was no deadlier than "the flu" and that his priority was the nation's economic recovery rather than the health crisis.[130] In fact, as at early 2021, the Brazilian economy was bouncing back, albeit somewhat slowly and inconsistently, as the pandemic was still threatening to undo any economic recovery.[131] Bolsonaro continually accused political opponents and the press of exaggerating the threat of the virus and called it a "fantasy" created by the media.[132][133]
In August 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, Bolsonaro's approval rating showed signs of recovery, reaching its highest level since his inauguration.[134] In November 2020 he said he would not take a COVID vaccine if it became available, but he later said he would support any possible vaccine if theBrazilian Health Agency deemed it safe.[135] In the same broadcast, he called face masks "the last taboo to fall".[135] In 2020 theOrganized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an international non-governmental organization that investigates crime and corruption, gave Bolsonaro its Person of the Year Award, which "recognizes the individual who has done the most in the world to advance organized criminal activity and corruption". Bolsonaro received the award for "surrounding himself with corrupt figures, using propaganda to promote his populist agenda, undermining the justice system, and waging a destructive war against the Amazon region that has enriched some of the country's worst land owners".[136]
In early 2021 Bolsonaro's approval ratings fell again, mostly due to the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination controversies, and the concurrent economic crisis that evolved under his watch.[137] Days after Brazil surpassed Russia as the country worst hit by COVID, Bolsonaro held a political rally in Brasília; his supporters and his own security guards wore masks, but he did not.[138] In June 2021, nationwide protests erupted against Bolsonaro's response to the pandemic; in São Paulo alone there were estimated to be 100,000 protesters on the streets.[139] In July, YouTube removed videos posted by Bolsonaro for spreading false information about the virus. YouTube has reportedly removed 15 videos altogether; one that was removed had shown Brazil's former health minister,Eduardo Pazuello, comparing the virus to HIV.[140] In other videos, Bolsonaro criticized efforts to stop the spread of the virus, such as wearing masks or taking the vaccine.[141]
By the end of June 2021, more members of the opposition started to call for his impeachment over his handling of the pandemic and spreadingmisinformation. The opposition signed a document with multiple accusations, such as blaming Bolsonaro for the deaths of 500,000 Brazilians from COVID-19, stating that his government had blatantly turned down expert advice on tackling the virus, and at least 20 other grievances.[142][143] In July 2021, Bolsonaro claimed on Brazilian radio that his government's greatest achievement was "two and a half years without corruption".[144] In the same month, a scandal dubbed "vaccine-gate" emerged. After months of denying offers of vaccines and bartering the costs, Bolsonaro's government made a deal to buy the unapprovedCovaxin vaccine from the Indian company Bharat Biotech at a very high price.[145] It was found that the government paid ten times the amount agreed by Bharat Biotech for the vaccine,[146] and that the irregularities were found not in the price of the vaccine, but in a payment of $45 million to a company in Singapore.[147] In response, the Supreme Court authorized a criminal investigation of Bolsonaro.[148]
In March 2021 Bolsonaro dismissedFernando Azevedo e Silva as defence minister and replaced him withWalter Souza Braga Netto; like Bolsonaro, Netto lionized the1964–1985 military dictatorship. The day after Netto was appointed, the leaders of the army, air force, and navy all resigned.[149] In April, Bolsonaro claimed that the Brazilian armed forces would "go into the streets" if he ordered them to.[150] In mid-August, the military conducted a ten-minute tank parade in Brasília, with Bolsonaro in attendance. The parade had been held annually in the last 30 years, but tanks had never been sent to the capital before. The parade was announced only a day in advance, and passed by the national congressional building, where lawmakers were due to vote on Bolsonaro's proposed election-related changes hours later. The lawmakers ultimately rejected the changes.[151][152]
On 28 July 2021 Bolsonaro appointedCiro Noguiera, a senator who was implicated in theOdebrecht corruption case, as hischief of staff.[153] In early August 2021, Bolsonaro threatened to respond with unconstitutional measures to an investigation over his baseless allegations of fraud vulnerabilities in Brazil's electronic voting system, because he deemed that investigation unconstitutional. Supreme Court JusticeAlexandre de Moraes had approved the investigation.[154] In mid-August 2021 Bolsonaro warned of a potential "institutional rupture", while urging the Senate to charge de Moraes and another Supreme Court Judge,Luis Roberto Barroso, the leader of the electoral court.[155] On 26 October 2021 a Senate committee approved a report calling for Bolsonaro to face criminal charges, including crimes against humanity, for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.[156]
In the second round of the presidential election on 30 October, Bolsonaro was defeated by former presidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took 50.9% of the votes cast.[166] Lula had won the most votes in the first round of the election on 2 October, receiving 48.43% of the votes cast: Bolsonaro received 43.20%.[167][168] In a press conference at thePalácio da Alvorada on 1 November, Bolsonaro did not acknowledge his defeat but stated that he would "comply with the Constitution". Regarding the protests by his supporters, he referred to them as "the fruit of indignation and a sense of injustice of how the electoral process unfolded", while calling on them to remain peaceful and not block roads. Shortly after his speech, the Supreme Court stated that by authorizing the transition of power he had recognized the results,[169][170] paving the way for the transition two days after Lula was recognized as the winner.[171][172] Bolsonaro left for the United States on 30 December to avoid taking part in the swearing-in ceremony of Lula, leaving Vice President Hamilton Mourão as the acting president.[173]
The documentaryApocalypse in the Tropics (2024) shows how evangelical pastorSilas Malafaia had a defining influence on Bolsanaro, while mustering support from Brazil's evangelical movement, in the path to Bolsanaro losing the election and in the protests and attempted insurrection that followed.[174]
On 30 December 2022, one day before the end of his term, Bolsonario arrived in theUS state ofFlorida and resided inKissimmee for several months.[175][176] On 8 January 2023his supporters attacked the buildings of theSupreme Court of Brazil, theNational Congress and thePlanalto Presidential Palace in an attempt to instigate a military coup d'état and reinstate Bolsonaro as president.[177] While the riots were going on, President Lula blamed Bolsonaro in a press conference.[177][178] Bolsonaro condemned the protesters in a Twitter post on 9 January,[179] and denied responsibility.[178] In February 2023 Bolsonaro announced that he would be returning to Brazil in March.[180] This would be the first time Bolsonaro had returned to the country since December 2022.[181] Bolsonaro had entered the United States on a diplomatic visa which expired on 31 January, but the family applied for tourist visas to extend their stay in Florida.[182]
Bolsonaro returned to Brazil in March 2023 for the first time since his supporters stormed the Supreme Court, Congress, and the presidential palace two months before. Bolsonaro has stated that he returned to the country to help his party and asserted that he intended to campaign for the2024 elections.[183] On 14 April 2023 Supreme Court judgeAlexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro to submit himself for questioning with theFederal Police over the storming of the Congress.[184]
In July 2024 the Federal Police charged Jair Bolsonaro with money laundering and criminal conspiracy related to undeclared diamonds that he allegedly received from Saudi Arabia while he was in office.[185]
Ineligibility, charges of coup planning and conviction
Bolsonaro showing hiselectronic ankle monitor at theNational Congress; after the incident,Alexandre de Moraes requested an explanation from him, as he was prohibited from giving interviews—otherwise, he would be immediately arrested, but Moraes ultimately deemed it just an "isolated irregularity".
On 30 June 2023 theSuperior Electoral Court barred Bolsonaro from running for public office until 2030 as a result of his attempts to undermine the validity of Brazil's 2022 democratic election, as well as for abuse of power with regard to using government channels to promote his campaign.[186][187] The decision applies to municipal, state and federal elections for the next eight years. He was prosecuted on several fraud charges in the 2022 elections and situations linked to the 8 January attack on federal government buildings. The decision came after a 5–2 vote in favour of conviction. Following the decision, Bolsonaro stated his intentions to appeal.[187][188]
On 31 October 2023 Bolsonaro was again convicted by the Superior Electoral Court overabuse of power for using officialBrazil's Independence Day ceremony to promote himself as a candidate which is banned under the Brazilian law. Former defence ministerWalter Braga Netto, who also attended the ceremony, and also ran for vice president on Bolsonaro's ticket, was convicted by the Court and ruled disqualified, like Bolsonaro, to run for any office for the next eight years.[189]
In February 2024 the Federal Police raided former government officials and ordered Bolsonaro to hand in his passport over accusations that he and his allies tried to overturn the results of the 2022 election and planned acoup d'état.[190] In March 2024, witness documents released by the Superior Electoral Court were made public. According to two military officials, Bolsonaro had plotted to overturn the 2022 results and presented top military officials a plan to carry out a coup with the goal of keeping him in power.
In his testimony the formerBrazilian Army commanderMarco Antônio Freire Gomes said that he had warned Bolsonaro the army would not tolerate "any act of institutional rupture", and further added that Bolsonaro's actions could result in his arrest. The formerBrazilian Air Force commanderCarlos de Almeida Baptista Júnior testified that he tried to dissuade Bolsonaro of "any extreme measure" and expressed his belief that Freire Gomes was instrumental in avoiding the use of a legal document that Bolsonaro presented in several meetings in December 2022 to overturn the results of the election. Baptista Júnior further said that the thenBrazilian Navy commanderAlmir Garnier Santos told Bolsonaro he would put his troops at his disposal, and commented: "If the commander [Freire Gomes] had agreed, possibly, a coup d'état attempt would have taken place."[191][192][193]
In late March 2024The New York Times released footage from internal security cameras in the Hungarian embassy in Brasília showing Bolsonaro and his aides and bodyguards entering the building on 12 February and leaving the place on 14 February. This happened after his Brazilian and Italian passports were confiscated, and Bolsonaro was prohibited from leaving the country due to an investigation about an alleged plot to carry out a military coup. Bolsonaro was welcomed by Hungarian ambassador to Brazil Miklós Halmai who reportedly sent the embassy's local employees a message to work from home during those dates.[194]
Following the report, the Supreme Court gave Bolsonaro a 48-hour deadline to explain his stay in the embassy,[195] and the Federal Police announced it was opening an investigation into the incident; which could have been viewed as an attempt to escape justice viadiplomatic asylum, since embassies are typically considered inviolable and host countries cannot enforce their law inside them without permission.[196] Media commentators and people on social media speculated this hypothesis was likely to be true citing Bolsonaro and Hungarian prime ministerViktor Orbán are both right-wing populist politicians who share a personal friendship, and Hungary's previous granting of asylum to the sanctioned former Macedonian prime ministerNikola Gruevski.[197][198] Additionally, theMinistry of Foreign Affairs summoned Halmai to give explanations about Bolsonaro's two-night stay in the embassy.[199]
On 19 March 2024 the Federal Police formally accused Bolsanaro of fraud on his COVID-19 vaccine records.[200] In November 2024 he and 36 others were formally charged with plotting a coup d'état, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, and criminal organisation.[201][202] In February 2025 Bolsonaro and 33 others were formally charged with plotting to assassinate Lula da Silva and Supreme Court JusticeAlexandre de Moraes.[203] On 26 March the Supreme Federal Court ordered Bolsonaro and seven of his associates to stand trial over the charges.[204]
On 21 November 2024 the Federal Police indicted Bolsonaro and 36 other people related to Bolsonaro's defeat in the 2022 presidential elections. He is alleged to have known of a plot to assassinate his successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and to overturn the election result.[205]
The trial against Bolsonaro and 80 other officials began in Brasília on 19 May 2025.[206]
On 18 July 2025 police again searched his home and ordered him to wear anelectronic ankle tag.[214] On 26 August he was placed under 24-hour surveillance after being designated as a "flight-risk".[215]
Bolsonaro's political views have been described asBrazilian nationalist andright-wing populist in nature, and he himself as an advocate offar-right politics.[218][219] His supporters say that his views are more aligned with traditional right-wing conservatism.[220] His electorate is mainly formed by adults above the age of 34, the working middle to upper class (mainly in the southeast region of the country), conservatives in general, college graduates, some centrists and theChristian right.[221] According to some polls, Bolsonaro's main support comes from thesoutheast,central-west, andsouth regions of Brazil. His voters are usually male and white, with a noticeable gender gap, with Bolsonaro polling poorly among female voters (mustering only 18% support with this demographic).[111][222][223] Just before the 2018 election, however, it was reported that female support for him had risen to 27%.[224]
Bolsonaro is viewed as ananti-abortion,[225]anti-establishment, and pro-gun politician, voicing opposition to most forms ofgun laws in Brazil, arguing that law-abiding citizens have the right to self-defence, especially those living in rural areas.[226] According toThe Washington Post, "Homicides hit arecord high of 63,880 last year ... Bolsonaro's solution is zero tolerance. He has called for police to use more lethal force and wants to relax gun laws so that average citizens can defend themselves."[6] Bolsonaro often rejects accusations made against him ofmisogyny andhomophobia, and says he is not far-right but simply right-wing.[227]
Bolsonaro is known for his strong opposition toleft-wing politics. Most notably, he has been a vocal opponent ofsame-sex marriage,[12] environmental regulations,[228] abortion,[14]affirmative action (particularly racial quotas),[15] as well as immigration,[229] particularly from Haiti, Africa and the Middle East, which he once called "the scum of humanity".[219] He has also opposeddrug liberalization,[16] land reforms,[230] and secularism at the federal level,[16] among other things.[231] Additionally, he made statements in defence of theBrazilian military regime,[232] (a dictatorship known for constant human-rights violations).[233] He argues that torture is a "legitimate practice" and says that he would try to pass new legislation regarding the introduction of life imprisonment to the Brazilian penal code.[234] Bolsonaro supports theprivatization of state-owned companies and advocatesfree-market policies,[235] although critics have stated that his policy-making record does not in fact show him to be a supporter ofeconomic liberalism.[236]
Bolsonaro andCharles, then Prince of Wales, in October 2019
In a 2017 interview with the journalist Claudio Dantas Sequeira fromO Antagonista, Bolsonaro said that his views are directly aligned with the centrist to right-wing United States citizens' views on gun ownership, abortion, gender politics, and trade, despite the "left-leaning media frenzy" against him. He reiterated that he intends to reverse some disarmament laws, improve public security, and also improve trade ties with the United States, which he said were broken duringLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva's andDilma Rousseff's administrations.[237]
During his long political career, Bolsonaro expressed views regarded as being far-right.[238] He has made statements that some people considered insulting, homophobic,[239] violence-inciting,[240][241][242] misogynistic, sexist,[243][241][242] racist,[244][241][242] or anti-refugee.[245] Other controversial political stances expressed by Bolsonaro have been the defence of the death penalty, which is banned under theConstitution of Brazil of 1988, and of radical interventionism in Brazil by the military, along with an imposition of a Brazilian military government.[16][246]
The journalistGlenn Greenwald called Bolsonaro "the most misogynistic, hateful elected official in the democratic world".[247]News.com.au wondered whether Bolsonaro was "the world's most repulsive politician".[244] The news magazineThe Economist referred to him as a "radical", "religious nationalist", a "right-wing demagogue", and "apologist of dictators".[248]Federico Finchelstein, a scholar on fascism and populism, has considered Bolsonaro, as he would link violence toausterity andneoliberal economic ideas, to be the most similar leader toAugusto Pinochet to come out from the young South American democracies.[249] Leonardo Fontes, a postdoctoral researcher at the Brazilian Centre for Analysis and Planning, characterized Bolsonaro's economic views asauthoritarian neoliberalism.[250]
As President of Brazil, Bolsonaro professed to be an open admirer of then-President of the United States,Donald Trump, duringhis first term. During Bolsonaro's campaign some observers saw similarities between the two's ideals, hardline attacks and a reputation for incendiary rhetoric, as well as social media presence. Because of this, Bolsonaro has been called the Brazilian equivalent of Trump or the "Trump of the Tropics".[251]
Bolsonaro and his sonEduardo hold up a Brazilian flag during a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the1964 military coup d'état, 1 April 2014.
Throughout his political career, Bolsonaro has made several admiring comments about theBrazilian military dictatorship, which ruled the country from 1964 to 1985. He said in 1993, eight years after the return of democracy, that the military regime had "led to a more sustainable and prosperous Brazil".[8] He has publicly referred to the military dictatorship as a "glorious" period in Brazil's history,[262] and that under the military dictatorship, Brazil enjoyed "20 years oforder and progress".[262] In December 2008 he said that "the error of the dictatorship was that it tortured, but did not kill".[263]
Bolsonaro has also repeatedly made admiring comments about a number of other Latin American dictatorships. He praised Peruvian presidentAlberto Fujimori as a role model for his use of military intervention viaself-coup against the judiciary and legislature.[8] In a 1998 interview withVeja magazine, Bolsonaro praised theChilean dictatorship ofAugusto Pinochet, and said the Pinochet regime, which killed over 3,000 Chilean citizens, "should have killed more people".[264] In 1999 Bolsonaro said thatHugo Chávez represented "hope for Latin America", comments that became a matter of controversy during the 2018 campaign, when Bolsonaro presented himself as a harsh critic ofChavismo.[265] In 2019, already in power, Bolsonaro commended Paraguayan dictatorAlfredo Stroessner as a "visionary" and "statesman", drawing immediate criticism, particularly due to multiple allegations ofpedophilia against Stroessner.[266][267] The comments were made in front of Paraguayan presidentMario Abdo Benítez, himself a child of Stroessner's personal secretary, Mario Abdo Benítez Sr.[268]
Speaking before his vote in favour ofPresident Dilma Rousseff's impeachment amid themassive corruption scandal, Bolsonaro paid homage to ColonelBrilhante Ustra, an agent ofBrazil's military dictatorship, and announced on the floor of the Chamber of Deputies that he was dedicating his pro-impeachment vote to Ustra's memory. Ustra had headed theDOI-CODI torture unit where Rousseff was allegedly tortured during the military dictatorship. The left-wing deputyJean Wyllys spat at him after his statement during the same session. The congressman claimed to have suffered homophobic offenses from Jair Bolsonaro and his allies.[269][270]
In a TV interview withCâmera Aberta in the 1990s, Bolsonaro said that if he ever became president, he would use this as an opportunity to shut down the National Congress and instigate a military coup himself. As of 2018[update], he appeared to have changed his mind, and said that if someone becomes the head of the country, it would be through voting.[271] In March 2019 Bolsonaro stated that the1964 coup d'état, which overthrew PresidentJoão Goulart,[272] was not acoup, and that 31 March, the day the coup was installed, should be "properly commemorated".[273][274][275]
Bolsonaro withBoris Johnson, then the British prime minister, 20 September 2021
During the 2018 presidential campaign, Bolsonaro said he would make considerable changes to Brazil's foreign relations, saying that the "Itamaraty needs to be in service of the values that were always associated with the Brazilian people". He also said that the country should stop "praising dictators" and attacking democracies, such as the United States, Israel and Italy.[276] In early 2018 he affirmed that his "trip to the five democratic countries the United States, Israel, Japan,South Korea, andTaiwan showed who we will be and we would like to join good people". Bolsonaro showed distrust towards China throughout the presidential campaign claiming they "[want to] buy Brazil",[277][278] although Brazil recorded a US$20 billion trade surplus with China in 2018, and China is only the 13th largest source of foreign direct investment into Brazil.[279] Bolsonaro said he wished to continue to do business with the Chinese but he also said that Brazil should "make better [economic] deals" with other countries, with no "ideological agenda" behind it.[227] His stance towards China has also been interpreted by some[who?] as an attempt to curry favor with theTrump administration to garner concessions from the US.[279] However, Bolsonaro mostly changed his position on China after he took office, saying that the two countries were "born to walk together" during his visit to Beijing in October 2019.[280][281] He also said that Brazil would stay out of the ongoingChina-US trade war.[280] According toOliver Stuenkel, Bolsonaro's stance on global politics evolved from anti-China to anti-Western during his presidency.[282] In 2022 he praised the role of BRICS during the2008 financial crisis and described BRICS cooperation as a "factor of stability and prosperity in the international situation".[283]
Bolsonaro said that his first international trip as president would be toIsrael.[284] Bolsonaro also said that theState of Palestine "is not a country, so there should be no embassy here", adding that "you don't negotiate with terrorists."[284] The announcement was warmly received by the prime minister of Israel,Benjamin Netanyahu, who welcomed Bolsonaro to Israel in March 2019 during the final weeks of a re-election campaign,[285] but met condemnation from theArab League, which warned Bolsonaro it could damage diplomatic ties.[286] "I love Israel", Bolsonaro said inHebrew at a welcoming ceremony, with Netanyahu at his side, atBen Gurion Airport inTel Aviv.[287]
Bolsonaro with Chinese PresidentXi Jinping in October 2019
At the regional level, Bolsonaro praised Argentine PresidentMauricio Macri for ending the 12-year rule ofNéstor andCristina Fernández de Kirchner, which he saw as similar to Lula and Rousseff. Although he does not have plans to leave theMercosur, he criticized it for prioritizing ideological issues over economic ones.[294] A staunch anti-communist, Bolsonaro has condemnedCuba's former leaderFidel Castro and the current regime in that island.[295][296]
Bolsonaro praised British Prime MinisterWinston Churchill, saying that he had learnt from Churchill: "Patriotism, love for your fatherland, respect for your flag – something that has been lost over the last few years here in Brazil... and governing through example, especially at that difficult moment of the Second World War."[295] Bolsonaro said he was open to the possibility of hosting aUS military base in Brazil to counter Russian influence in the region.[297] With the intention to persuade Trump to make Brazil aNATO member in March 2019, Bolsonaro said: "the discussions with the United States will begin in the coming months".[298][299][300][301]
Bolsonaro with Russian PresidentVladimir Putin in November 2019
With formal US support for Brazil's entry toOECD in May 2019, Bolsonaro said, "currently, all 36 members of the organization support the entry of the country, fruit of confidence in the new Brazil being built, more free, open and fair".[302][303][304] In October 2019, on a state visit to China, he announced the end of the need for visas for Chinese and Indian entry into Brazil. Brazil had already removed the need for visas for people from the US, Canada, Japan, and Australia.[305]
Environment and climate change
The deforestation rate in Brazil surged by 72% during Bolsonaro's time in office, reflecting that Amazon development was his key policy position.[306][307]
Brazil has the world'slargest tropical rainforest in theAmazon basin. According toThe Washington Post, "Bolsonaro is a powerful supporter ofagribusiness ... and is likely to favor profits over preservation. ... Bolsonaro has chafed at foreign pressure to safeguardthe Amazon rainforest, and he served notice to international nonprofit groups such as theWorld Wide Fund for Nature that he will not tolerate their agendas in Brazil. He has also come out strongly againstlands reserved forindigenous tribes. Bolsonaro advisers additionally say that he plans to expandnuclear and hydroelectric power into the Amazon."[6]
In April 2019 theAmerican Museum of Natural History canceled an event honouring Bolsonaro after facing heavy public criticism, including from New York MayorBill de Blasio. The museum's directorate justified its decision in a statement, "With mutual respect for the work and goals of our organizations, we jointly agreed that the Museum is not the optimal location for the Brazilian-Am. Chamber of Commerce gala dinner. This traditional event will go forward at another location on the original date and time."[312] Bolsonaro supported plans to open the Reserva Nacional do Cobre e Associados (Renca)Amazonian reserve in Brazil's northern states ofPará andAmapá to commercial mining.[313]
Destruction of the Amazon rainforest increased by 88% for the month of June 2019, during Bolsonaro's first year as president, as compared with the previous year, according to theNational Institute for Space Research (INPE). Bolsonaro rejected the agency's data as false. The INPE director was fired after he rebutted Bolsonaro's criticism of the institute.[314][315][316][317] The Bolsonaro administration decreased government efforts to combat illegal logging, ranching and mining in the Amazon. Government enforcement actions such as fines, warnings and the confiscation or destruction of illegal equipment in protected areas decreased by 20% in the first half of 2018 compared to the first half of 2017.[318]
His damage to the Amazon has widely been described by indigenous groups, human rights groups, politicians, academics and journalists as anecocide and agenocide.[319][320][321][322] Indigenous chiefs and human rights organizations have submitted an Article 15 communication to theInternational Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and genocide for harm to Indigenous people and destruction of the Amazon.[323][324][325] Another has been submitted for ecocide by indigenous chiefs.[326][327]
Bolsonaro reportedly attended aBaptist church for 10 years.[330] In a 2017 speech, Bolsonaro stated, "God above everything. There is no such thing as asecular state. The state is Christian, and any minority that is against this has to change, if they can."[331] He later evolved his position to keeping the country a secular state during the first round of the Brazilian presidential elections: "We are going to make a government for everyone, regardless of religion. Even for atheists. We have almost 5% of atheists in Brazil, and they have the same needs that others have."[332]
Views on women
In an interview withZero Hora in 2015, Bolsonaro argued that men and women should not receive the same salaries, because women get pregnant, adding that he believes federal law mandating paidmaternity leave harms work productivity.[333] Bolsonaro has denied saying that women should receive less than men; he claims it was statistical data byIBGE.[334] In a public speech in April 2017, Bolsonaro said he had five children, that the first four were male and that for the fifth he produced a daughter out of "a moment of weakness".[335]
Bolsonaro provoked controversy for a series of remarks made to and about Federal Deputy and former Human Rights MinisterMaria do Rosário. During a Congressional debate, Bolsonaro said that minors should betreated as adults if they commit heinous crimes such as murder or rape, to which Maria do Rosário responded by calling him a "rapist".[336][337][338] Bolsonaro then stated that Congresswoman Rosário was "not worth raping; she is very ugly".[243] The remarks drew considerable condemnation throughout Brazil. In the aftermath of these remarks, Bolsonaro was tried and convicted in a Federal court in September 2015 on counts ofhedonic damages against Rosário.[339] In June 2016 the Federal Supreme Court responded to a complaint filed by theAttorney General and decided to open two criminal actions against Bolsonaro. The Supreme Court ruled that he had potentially incited rape and defamed the honour of his fellow Deputy. He faced a penalty of up to six months of jail and a fine.[340] Ultimately in August 2017, an appellate court upheld a lower court's verdict which found Bolsonaro guilty and sentenced him to pay a fine to Rosário of R$10,000 (roughly equivalent to US$2,500).[341] This lawsuit was dismissed by the Supreme Federal Court as Bolsonaro was inaugurated as president in 2019 and acquiredimmunity from prosecution.[342]
In May 2002, after then-President Fernando Henrique Cardoso attended a pro-gay-marriage gathering, Bolsonaro said, "If I see two men kissing in the street, I will beat them."[343] He later publicly defended beating gay children, saying, "If your child starts to become like that, a little bit gay, you take a whip and you change their behaviour." He also said, "If a kid hangs out with someone who uses marijuana, he'll end up snorting, and if he hangs out with gay person, he definitely is going to turn into a faggot."[344]
In a June 2011 interview withPlayboy, Bolsonaro said, "I would be incapable of loving a gay son", and added that he would prefer any gay son of his "to die in an accident".[345] In an interview that same month withJornal de Notícias, Bolsonarolinked homosexuality topaedophilia, saying, "many of the children who are adopted by gay couples will be abused by these couples".[346] He further argued that Brazil does not need legislation specifically targeting homophobia, because "most homosexuals are murdered by their respective pimps at hours when good citizens are already asleep".[16] In the British actorStephen Fry's 2013 documentaryOut There, Bolsonaro said, "no father is ever proud of having a gay son" and "we Brazilians do not like homosexuals".[347]
Bolsonaro and his son Eduardo, together with fellow-congressmanMarco Feliciano, watching as a couple of protesters for LGBT rights kiss on the floor of the Committee on Culture of the Chamber of Deputies, May 2016
In a March 2016 video interview forVice withElliot Page, an openly lesbian actress at the time, Page asked Bolsonaro whether he should have been beaten as a child (alluding to Bolsonaro's public statements that gay children should be beaten). Bolsonaro replied, "You are very nice. If I were a cadet in the military academy and saw you on the street, I would whistle at you. All right? You are very pretty."[348] Bolsonaro added, "Over time, due to liberal habits, drugs, with women also working, the number of homosexuals has really increased."[348]
On 9 November 2017 the Court of Justice for the State of Rio de Janeiro sentenced Bolsonaro to pay a fine of R$150,000 forhate speech because of televised comments he made in 2011 to theCuste o Que Custar television programme, when Bolsonaro stated that "there is no risk" of his family producing a homosexual child because his children had a "good education". Judge Luciana Teixeira said that the deputy had abused his right of free expression to commit a wrongful act. "You cannot deliberately attack and humiliate, ignoring the principles of equality, just because you invoke freedom of expression", said the judge.[349]
However, on 11 January 2016, when he began to present himself as a pre-candidate to thePresidency of Brazil, Bolsonaro began to moderate his discourse on gay people by publishing a video on his official YouTube channel:
I have nothing to do with anyone's behaviour. If the husband and wife later decide to live with their partner, to form a couple, to live with a person of the same sex, they should and be happy. But we cannot state that, because of our omission in the Parliament, children become homosexuals in the future, or have such homosexual behaviour in the future, because the influence of school. That is unacceptable.[350]
Since then, Bolsonaro states he has nothing against gays and that he only fights against the "gay kit" in schools.[351] On 4October 2018, for example, Bolsonaro said:
Each person, after a certain age, is responsible for their acts, and will take care of their life. For six-year-old children, this does not hold true. A father does not want to come home and see his son playing with a doll because of the influence of school. Homosexuals will be happy if I become president.[352]
That same month, shortly before the first round of the Brazilian presidential elections, he said: "We are going to make a government for everybody. For gays, and some gays are fathers, who are mothers. It is a work for everyone".[332] After being elected president, when asked byWilliam Bonner in theJornal Nacional about what he would say to those who are more prejudiced and aggressive against gays, Bolsonaro replied: "The aggression against a fellow man has to be punished in the way of law. And if [such aggression is committed] for a reason like this, you have to have your sentence increased."[353]
On multiple occasions, Bolsonaro has publicly endorsed physical violence as a legitimate and necessary form of political action. In 1999, when he was 44 years old and a representative in the Brazilian Congress, Bolsonaro said during a TV interview that the only way of "changing" Brazil was by "killing thirty thousand people, beginning withFernando Henrique Cardoso" (then President of Brazil).[354] During the 2018 campaign, he stated during a rally inAcre that the local "petralhas" (a derogatory term for members of the Workers' Party) would be "shot"; according to his aides, the statement was a "joke".[355] One week before the second round, Bolsonaro said during a speech that in his administration "petralhas" and "reds" (i.e. leftists) would be arrested, purged or taken to the "corner of the beach", a term that was later revealed to mean a Navy base where dissidents of theBrazilian military dictatorship were murdered.[74]
In 1999, talking aboutChico Lopes, a former president of the Brazilian Central Bank who invoked his right to remain silent during a Congress hearing, Bolsonaro declared himself in favor of torture in this sort of situation.[356] Asked about this phrase years later, Bolsonaro said: "Ask the father of a kidnapped child what he would like him to do to discover [where the kid is]. You have to take brutal measures, which some consider torture".[357]
Views on race
Throughout his political career, Bolsonaro has made numerous statements that have been described as racist.[358] In 2011, when asked by the Afro-Brazilian singerPreta Gil on TV showCuste o Que Custar (CQC) what he would do if one of his sons had a black girlfriend, he answered that he "would not discuss promiscuity" and that there was "no such risk", because his children were "very well educated". Bolsonaro later claimed that he was misunderstood and denied promoting racism, although he stood by his attacks on gay people.[359]
In 2017, in an event at the Hebraica club in Rio de Janeiro, Bolsonaro promised to abolish allindigenous andQuilombola territories in Brazil, saying that he would not cede "a centimiter" of land to these groups. He also claimed to have visited aquilombo, a settlement formed by descendants of enslaved people, accusingAfro-Brazilians who lived there of being lazy and unproductive. The politician also claimed that the "least heavy" of the quilombolas weighed sevenarrobas, a unit of measure that is used in Brazil to weigh cattle.[360] These comments have been criticized as an attempt todehumanize black Brazilians.[361]
Bolsonaro is a strong opponent ofaffirmative action, and has criticized the Brazilian racial quotas system in universities as a way of dividing society that is at odds with equality between citizens.[362] In 2011, he was accused of racism after questioning the capabilities of Black and indigenous graduates who benefitted from affirmative action, claiming that he would not fly on an airplane piloted by one of them, nor accept a doctor who was admitted to a university through racial quotas to perform surgery on him.[15]
Birth control for the poor
Bolsonaro provoked considerable controversy for public remarks made in July 2008, where he proposed to provide poor people with birth control methods, who he suggested might be too uneducated to understand family planning education. Bolsonaro said:
I wish Brazil had a family planning programme. It's not even worthy to talk about education when most of these [poor] people are not prepared to receive education, therefore they won't educate themselves. Only rigid birth control can save us from chaos. An educated man and woman will hardly desire an extra child with the sole purpose of engaging in a social welfare assistance programme [as it is nowadays]. We need to adopt a rigid birth control policy. We can't make demagogic speeches any longer, proposing bills and means of government to support these poor people [who] are increasingly proliferating throughout the country. ... People who aren't prepared to have children, shouldn't have them. This is what I stand for and I'm not worried about getting votes in the future. It's past time to discuss a policy to contain this demographic explosion, otherwise, we'll keep voting in thisChamber only matters such asBolsa Família, loans for the poor, gas vouchers, etc. Methods [of birth control] have to be provided for those who, unfortunately, are ignorant and have no means to control their offspring. Because we [as upper-middle class] can control ours. Poor people don't control [theirs].[363][364][365][366]
As a Congressman, Bolsonaro put forward three bills trying to remove "virtually all" legal restrictions to surgical sterilization via the public health system, including the reduction of "the minimum age of sterilization to 21 years".[367] None of the bills were voted through.
Elections
Bolsonaro has endorsed conspiracy theories ofvoter fraud in past elections, including claims that attempts were made to rig the 2018 presidential election against him;[368] he has also questioned the outcome of the2020 United States presidential election.[369] During his presidency, he has repeatedly challenged the legitimacy ofelectronic voting and advocated the use of paper ballots in the 2022 election.[370] Bolsonaro said that he would not accept the results of the 2022 election if electoral reforms were not implemented.[369][371] Most experts on Brazilian politics, including defence ministerCelso Amorim, questioned the likelihood of a coup attempt, and polls found that few Bolsonaro supporters would likely endorse a coup.[370][369] In May 2022,Central Intelligence Agency directorWilliam Burns warned Bolsonaro against any further attacks on Brazil's electoral system.[371] The 2022 election occurred days after the success of far-right politicianGiorgia Meloni in the2022 Italian general election,[372] with analysts noting that Bolsonaro performed better than expected during the first round of elections and that his party's success had the potential to moderate Lula's government if Lula won the election.[373][374]
Personal life
Bolsonaro with his two sons, Eduardo and Flávio, in the late 1980s
Bolsonaro has been married three times and has five children. His first wife was Rogéria Nantes Braga (with whom he has three sons:Flávio,Carlos, andEduardo). His second marriage was with Ana Cristina Valle (with whom he has a son, Renan). In 2007 he married his third and current wife,Michelle de Paula Firmo Reinaldo, with whom he has a daughter named Laura.[375][376]
While working in Congress, Bolsonaro hired Michelle as a secretary and over the next two years she received promotions and her salary more than tripled. He was forced to fire her after theSupreme Federal Court ruled thatnepotism is illegal in the public administration.[377][378] In 2018 Bolsonaro and his wife lived inBarra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro.[379]
Bolsonaro has three granddaughters, two by Flávio[380] and one by Eduardo.[381] Bolsonaro isCatholic.[382] On 25 October 2018 he was presented with an honorary black belt byRobson Gracie despite never having trainedBrazilian jiu-jitsu.[383]
On September 16, 2025, Bolsonaro's son said he was transported to a hospital inBrasilia after reportedly feeling sick.[384] The next day, it was announced that Bolsonaro was diagnosed with an early type ofskin cancer.[385]
One ofTime magazine's 100 most influential people in 2019 and 2020[393][394]
Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce's 2019 Person of the Year[395]
OCCRP's 2020 Person of the Year "for his role in promoting organized crime and corruption"[396]
On 25 October 2021 he was recognized as an honorary citizen by the city council ofAnguillara Veneta, Italy, his paternal grandfather's hometown.[397] This aroused reactions in Italy.[398]
^Sanches, Valdir (2 March 2015)."Mãe de Bolsonaro: "Ele não era de falar besteira"" [Bolsonaro's mother: "He wasn't the kind to talk nonsense"].Crescer (in Brazilian Portuguese).Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved28 April 2018.
^abBolsonaro, Flávio (2017).Jair Messias Bolsonaro – Mito ou Verdade (in Brazilian Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Altadena Editora. pp. 77–79.ISBN9788594307002.
^Anderson, Perry (7 February 2019)."Bolsonaro's Brazil".London Review of Books.41 (3):11–22.Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved9 March 2019.
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