Jair Bolsonaro Fast Facts: Presidential Candidates
Jair Bolsonaro
Jair Bolsonaro is a former army captain and the right-wing, center-right presidential favorite of Brazil.
The 62-year-old former army captain is one of eight candidates in this year’s election to represent the country in the United States; the others are Marina Silva, Jair Bolsonaro, Geraldo Alckmin, Fernando Haddad, Aécio Neves, Fernando Haddad, and Fernando Haddad. Bolsonaro has been backed for many years by right-wing politicians such as Jair Bolsonaro’s brother-in-law, Eduardo Cunha, who is currently serving a prison sentence for corruption.
Bolsonaro is known for his provocative statements and his strong stand against the LGBT community and women. He was recently condemned by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, who accused him of “intensifying military conflict in the middle east”. Bolsonaro’s statements have also been condemned by prominent figures in other countries, such as the US President Barack Obama, who said that “it is profoundly disturbing” for the US government to see “how this kind of rhetoric about violence and hatred is coming from Brazil”.
Jair Bolsonaro was born in Rio de Janeiro on the 20th of February 1969. The politician first entered politics as a member of the Workers’ Party before he joined the Social Liberal Party in 2000. Bolsonaro was elected to the Brazilian Senate in 2013 and then became a member of the lower house again a year later.
Bolsonaro has announced he would run for president in the next Brazilian general elections on October 2019, and is currently leading in the polls with the most votes cast.
As a presidential candidate, Bolsonaro says he wants to create a new, “nationalist” Brazil. He has described his election as a “new beginning.”
Bolsonaro is a member of the Brazilian Federal Police’s Special Operations Group (GROG) and has said that his priorities are to reform his party and to support the government’s economic policies. Bolsonaro also said that his party would not support his reelection to the senate.
Marina Silva
Marina Silva is the youngest of the
