Bolsonaro declares Brazil's 'liberation from socialism' as
he is sworn in
Far-right populist invited lawmakers to help country free
itself from ‘ideological submission’ in speech
Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration: the day progressive Brazil
has dreaded
Dom Phillips in Brasília
@domphillips
Tue 1 Jan 2019 19.40 GMT Last modified on Wed 2 Jan 2019
04.49 GMT
Jair Bolsonaro has announced Brazil’s “liberation from
socialism, inverted values, the bloated state and political correctness” after
being sworn in as the country’s 42nd president.
His words delighted a crowd of more than 100,000 – many of
whom had travelled to its modernist capital for the event, convinced the
far-right populist can rescue their troubled country from virulent corruption,
rising violent crime and economic doldrums.
The former army captain and his wife Michelle waved to
crowds from an open-topped Rolls Royce before he and his vice-president,
retired army general Hamilton Mourão, were sworn in at Congress.
In a brief speech to the chamber of deputies, Bolsonaro thanked
God for surviving from a near-fatal knife attack during the election campaign
and invited lawmakers to help Brazil free itself from “corruption, criminality
and economic irrresponsibility and ideological submission”.
“We have a unique opportunity before us to reconstruct our
country and rescue the hope of our compatriots,” he said. “We are going to
unite the people, rescue the family, respect religions and our Judeo-Christian
tradition, combat genre ideology, conserving our values.”
He also referred to campaign promises such as freeing up gun
possession. “Good citizens deserve the means to defend themselves,” he said.
Bolsonaro said he was counting on Congress support to provide “legal support”
for police to do their work; he has promised impunity for police who kill
criminals. “They deserve it and must be respected,” he said.
Bolsonaro has enjoyed the support of Brazil’s powerful
agribusiness sector, which he said will have an “increase in efficiency” with
“less bureaucracy” – words which will alarm environmentalists and indigenous
activists concerned by his plans to reduce to streamline environmental
licensing and allow commercial mining and farming on protected indigenous
reserves.
These fears seem justified, in one of his first acts as
president, just hours after being sworn in, Bolsonaro took the power to identify
and demarcate indigenous reserves from the National Indian Foundation (Funai),
giving it to the Ministry of Agriculture, according to local media reports.
He also took aim at the leftist Workers’ party he has
painted as communists responsible for all Brazil’s ills, from crime to
corruption.
“Irresponsibility conducted us to the worst ethical, moral
and economic crisis in our history,” he said.
Minutes afterwards, Donald Trump tweeted that Bolsonaro had
made a “great inauguration speech”, adding: “The U.S.A is with you!”
Shortly afterwards, Bolsonaro’s Twitter account replied:
“Dear Mr. President @realDonaldTrump, I truly appreciate your words of
encouragement. Together, under God’s protection, we shall bring prosperity and
progress to our people.”
Bolsonaro, a former army captain who served seven
undistinguished terms as a member of Brazil’s lower house, was until this year
regarded as a marginal figure known for his outbursts against leftists and LGBT
people. He rode a wave of righteous anger to power provoked by sweeping
corruption scandals and economic recession that Bolsonaro blamed on the leftist
Workers’ party that ran Brazil for 13 years.
In an aggressive and deeply polarised campaign that made
adept use of social media, Bolsonaro focused attacks leftist former presidents
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – currently serving a prison sentence for graft – and
his successor Dilma Rousseff, impeached in 2016 for breaking budget rules.
Bolsonaro’s election victory marks a dramatic swing to the
right for Brazil, which from 1964 to 1985 was run by a military dictatorship
that its new president has expressed support for.
The inauguration took place under the tightest security team
seen in decades. Crowds of supporters passed through three checkpoints,
including metal detectors. The new government said 115,000 people attended –
much fewer than the half a million expected. As they sang and chanted, firemen
sprayed some with water to alleviate the muggy heat.
Many of the groups who travelled across country wore
matching T-shirts and hats emblazoned with Bolsonaro’s photo and name. Around
80 bikers had come from Fortaleza in the north-east.
“He is the man who will wake this country up, said Francisco
Siqueira, 64, a retired army lieutenant who organised pro-Bolsonaro campaign
parades of bikers. “Brazilians will be proud when they travel abroad.”
Lawyer Eliana Rabello, 41, had flown from Colatina in
Espírito Santo state with 12 family members, including husband Marcelo, 42, a
public servant and their daughter Mariana, 7 – all wearing Bolsonaro baseball
caps. They had been campaigning for Bolsonaro from the beginning. “We saw he
was the guy who was hope for Brazil,” she said, playing down his extremist
comments such as threatening a “cleansing” of leftists as “hot blood”.
But to deliver on his radical campaign promises and return
Brazil to economic growth will require doing deals with the mercenary Congress,
analysts said – something he has sworn he will not do.
Traditionally Brazilian presidents offer ministerial jobs to
members of a coalition of parties in return for support – there are over 30 parties
in Congress, none of which has a clear majority. “That’s how the game is
played,” said David Fleischer, emeritus professor of political science at the
University of Brasília and a veteran observer of Brazilian politics.
The system was blamed for corruption scandals in the leftist
governments of Lula and Dilma Rousseff – and cleaning up Brazil’s graft problem
is one of Bolsonaro’s central campaign promises. Instead of “pork barrel”
dealing, he plans to lean on the support of cross-party, issue-based blocks in
Congress formed of lawmakers who are evangelical Christians or linked to
agribusiness and the arms lobby.
“I’m not sure that’s going to work,” said Fleischer. If Bolsonaro
wants to get an overhaul of Brazil’s pension system through Congress –
something his predecessor Michel Temer failed to do – and reform financial
markets regard as key to reducing a soaring deficit, Bolsonaro will need to
bargain, he said. “It’s sit down and negotiate,” he said.
All that is yet to come. For now, Bolsonaro is riding a wave
of enthusiasm from conservative Brazilians who identify with his promise to
return their country to a traditional past. “It’s like a pendulum,” said Elias
Figueira, 57, an Uber driver from Rio, “from Marxism back to the right.”
In a poll published Tuesday, 65% of Brazilians said they
expected his government to be “good or great”.
In a second speech delivered from the presidential
headquarters after receiving the presidential sash from outgoing president
Temer, Bolsonaro said Brazilians could now “dream of a better life”.
“We are going to re-establish order in this country,” he
said.
He and Mourão held up a Brazilian flag. “It will only turn
red if our blood is needed to keep it green and yellow,” he said.
The crowds cheered, waved flags and celebrated the hope that
Brazil – the perennial country of the future – might find its destiny by
heading back into its past.
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