Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro showed almost uncontrollable restlessness upon entering the TV studio. One of the most serious mistakes made during the entire campaign weighed on him. The scandal comes during a radio interview he gave last Friday, when he said he ran into “very beautiful and well-groomed little girls” at a motorcycle parade. In his story, he retraced his steps because he realized that “something was happening” with them. He then suggested that the girls, aged between 14 and 15, by his own description, put on “make-up” in prostitution “to make a living”.
What followed was a veritable bombardment on social networks, with messages describing the head of state as a “pedophile”. All Saturday and Sunday networks did not let him rest. Once in front of the press, shortly before entering the TV studio, Bolsonaro admitted his grief over the episode: “It was the worst 24 hours of my life, because of the shameful, disgusting accusation of pedophilia.” In his defense, he asserted that in his radio statements, the words allegedly implicating him were “taken out of context.”
Faced with repeated questions from reporters on the subject, Bolsonaro replied: “Anything else?” He immediately left the scene. Lula da Silva’s entrance a few minutes ago was very quiet. The former president said that he is not afraid of confrontation with Bolsonaro. “On the contrary,” he explained. “I just hope it’s a real counterpoint.”
To begin with, when the debate began at 8:00 p.m., former president Lula did not hesitate to attack the current head of state with accusations about the policies of the fight against Covid-19. He reminded him that the government had been slow to buy vaccines, which had resulted in the deaths of nearly 700,000 Brazilians. Of course, Bolsonaro was struggling to defend himself. Everything went smoothly in the first chapter of this “series”. The most serious insult among them was: “Don’t lie.”
For the second time
During the second half, the “confrontation” continued, but there was a difference: it was mediated by questions from journalists who participated in the organization of the competition: UOL Universo Online, TV Bandeirantes, TV Cultura and Folha de. Sao Paulo..
Bolsonaro continued the line insisted on by his coaches: repeatedly repeating that his opponent is “lying”, showing that Lula’s two governments (2003-2010) “only served” to transfer public money to private pockets and back. History of “Petrolao” also known as “Mensalao”. The PT leader took responsibility for the story, but – as in the first round of the debate – argued in his defense that his government had taken transparency measures and that this allowed for signs of corruption at Brazil’s state-owned oil company.
In his bid for re-election, Bolsonaro reintroduced a former official who had betrayed him: Sergio Moro, who joined the Bolsonaro cabinet in 2019 to head the Justice Ministry, a post he would later leave. In April 2020, it was learned that the President was trying to control the Federal Police, the security force dependent on his portfolio. The former judge of Lava Jato recently renewed his relationship with the president on the best terms and became one of his main advisers.
If Bolsonaro’s goal in this “show” was to create differences with his opponent, especially on corruption issues, and on that basis to overthrow the “enemy”, there is nothing to indicate that he achieved this goal. Lula won the first round, and the rest ended in a draw. Polls and analysts suggest that the “incumbent representation” of both contenders did little to move the needle one way or the other. If so, rival Lula will barely maintain his narrow margin, which puts him at the top of the standings by just 5%.
As usual, Bolsonaro came back towards the end, referring to Argentina, which the current Planalto leader uses as a synonym for “disaster”. He recalled that Lula da Silva is a friend of Alberto Fernández and therefore predicted that if his opponent succeeds, Brazil will suffer the same fate as its main partner in Mercosur. Not to mention the current head of state’s references to communism, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The addition of a new “Demon” is noteworthy: Colombia, chaired by Gustavo Petro.
Source: El Diario
