Controversies surrounding Jair Bolsonaro

Among the main controversies surrounding Jair Bolsonaro are his right-wing populist position,[1] his criticism of the political left,[2][3] his classification of torture as a legitimate practice,[4][5][6] his opposition to LGBT rights and several other questionable statements,[7][8][9] which have led to 30 calls for his impeachment and three court convictions.

The trial was held in June 1988 and the court accepted the thesis of Bolsonaro's and Captain Fábio Passos da Silva's defense, which claimed that the documentary evidence was insufficient because it did not allow for handwriting comparisons, since block letters had been used.

According to the organization, Bolsonaro has "surrounded himself with corrupt figures, used propaganda to promote his populist agenda, undermined the justice system, and waged a destructive war against the Amazon region that has enriched some of the country's worst land owners.

In his defense, Bolsonaro claimed that Rodrigo Janot, former Prosecutor General of the Republic, had filed an anonymous complaint about his declaration of assets in 2014 and that the accusations were "slanderous" and part of a "campaign to assassinate his reputation".

According to the article, between January and June, Walderice Santos da Conceição received more than R$17,000 as an employee of his office in the Chamber of Deputies, but worked as an açaí vendor in the municipality of Angra dos Reis, in Rio de Janeiro.

In the document, filed in April 2008 with the 1st Family Court of Rio de Janeiro in the midst of a contentious separation, Ana Cristina made several accusations against Bolsonaro, including: hiding assets from the Electoral Justice in the 2006 election, incompatibility of income with his monthly earnings and theft of cash and jewelry from a safe at a Banco do Brasil branch.

[75][76] On October 19, 2018, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), following a request from the Workers' Party (PT), launched an investigation based on a report in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, which claimed that companies paid up to R$12 million in contracts for the mass sending of fake news against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on the WhatsApp app to favor Bolsonaro's presidential campaign.

[88] In 2019, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Rio de Janeiro opened an investigation into the possible money laundering and concealment of assets of former parliamentary advisor Fabrício Queiroz and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro.

[105][106] On March 15, 2023, the TCU ordered Bolsonaro to return the case of men's jewelry received from Saudi Arabia and weapons donated by the United Arab Emirates to the coffers of the Presidency of the Republic within five days.

[111][112] In 1999, while explaining to presenter Jô Soares why he defended the firing squad of former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB), he said that "barbarity is privatizing Vale and telecommunications, handing over our oil reserves to foreign capital".

[126][127] During the National Truth Commission's visit on September 21, 2013, to the 1st Army Police Battalion in Rio de Janeiro, where the DOI-CODI operated during the dictatorship, Bolsonaro pushed Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, who was trying to prevent him from entering the barracks.

[141] On August 5, 2019, Justice Rosa Weber also gave Bolsonaro a 15-day deadline to clarify a statement in which he suggested that former president Dilma Rousseff had participated in armed actions during the military dictatorship that resulted in the death of US Army Captain Charles Chandler.

American Captain Chandler was killed on October 12, 1968, in the Sumaré neighborhood, on the west side of the city of São Paulo, in an attack carried out by three militants from the Popular Revolutionary Vanguard (VPR) and the National Liberation Action (ALN).

In apologizing for his statements, Bolsonaro said he wanted to take advantage of the case to express his "full and unrestricted respect for women" and stressed that he had defended harsher sentences for those convicted of rape, such as chemical castration, and classifying crimes of passion as heinous.

He concluded by saying that, despite being approved, he maintained that the family is composed of a man and a woman, since "you can't amend the Bible"[202][203] On April 27, 2011, Bolsonaro became involved in a controversy with openly homosexual Federal Deputy Jean Wyllys (PSOL).

[216] In 2018, during the presidential election, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) ordered the removal of videos claiming that the French book Le Guide du zizi sexuel (associated by Bolsonaro with the "gay kit") had been distributed by government programs while Fernando Haddad was Minister of Education.

According to Justice Carlos Horbach, the videos constitute "the dissemination of a fact that is known to be untrue, by the represented candidate and his supporters, in several posts made on social networks" which "generates misinformation in the electoral period, with damage to the political debate".

The National Movement for Human Rights demanded punishment for his statements, stating that it was "perplexed and outraged by the racist and homophobic offenses made by Jair Bolsonaro against Preta Gil, and consequently against both social groups.

[242] Yann Evanovick, president of the Brazilian Union of High School Students (UBES), stated that "it is impossible for a country that is theoretically a full democracy to have prejudiced, homophobic and sexist parliamentarians like Bolsonaro".

[249] In 2013, an investigation was opened against Bolsonaro at the STF for allegedly racist statements made against Preta Gil, which was shelved for lack of evidence in 2015, based on the justification that the broadcaster did not make the full recording of the interview available, only the edited version.

"[251] After the statement, Bolsonaro was denounced by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Rio de Janeiro, which claimed that he had used insulting, prejudiced and discriminatory expressions with the aim of offending and ridiculing quilombola communities and the black population.

In the complaint, Prosecutor General Raquel Dodge asks him to pay R$400,000 for collective moral damages and states: "Jair Bolsonaro treated the members of quilombola communities with total contempt.

"[258] In September 2015, during an interview with the Opção newspaper in Goiás, Bolsonaro said: "I don't know what the commanders' adherence is, but if they reduce the number of Armed Forces personnel, it means fewer people on the streets to deal with the MST criminals, the Haitians, Senegalese, Bolivians and all the scum of the earth that are now arriving, including the Syrians.

Based on the allegation that there were practices prohibited by electoral law, such as donations from legal entities and the purchase of user registrations, the PT asked that Bolsonaro be declared ineligible for abuse of economic power and misuse of the media.

Abraji said that by "stimulating an environment of confrontation and intimidation against journalists and media outlets, Bolsonaro is moving away from the democratic commitment he made when he took office, and is closer to authoritarian rulers, of various ideological hues, who seek to demonize the press because they see it as an obstacle to their power projects.

"[297] On February 26, 2020, Estado de S. Paulo said: "Bolsonaro seems to be trying to build a military-inspired populist regime, very much to the taste of those who miss the dictatorship and reminiscent of the government of General Velasco Alvarado in Peru, who harassed parties because he considered them part of the oligarchic system.

[310][311][312][313] However, Jair Bolsonaro's response was widely criticized after he minimized the effects of the disease,[314][315][316][317] defended treatments without proven efficacy[318][319][320][321][322] and postponed the purchase of vaccines,[323][324] as well as clashing with governors for disagreeing with social distancing measures.

[350][351] In subsequent months, the Brazilian government launched measures to promote chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as treatments for COVID-19, which included the ordering of production,[352][353][354][355] coordination of distribution[356] and a considerable expenditure of approximately R$90 million on the acquisition of the medicines.

[426] Later, the amendment was rejected by the Supreme Court and not implemented in the 2018 elections, based on the understanding that it could cause a risk of a breach of secrecy and freedom of choice, due to the possibility of poll workers having to intervene in case of printing failure.

[430][431][432] According to The New York Times, the meeting raised international concern about a possible coup d'état in Brazil, as Bolsonaro suggested that the solution to the problems mentioned would be to intensify the military's involvement in the electoral process.