Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right president in his own words

Brazil’s new president is a far-right figurehead and ex-paratrooper known for lashing out at women, minorities, and indigenous groups

air Bolsonaro is a deeply polarising figure who rose from political irrelevance – and survived a near-fatal eve-of-election assassination attempt – to become the leader of Latin America’s biggest economy in little more than two years.

He has praised Pinochet, expressed support for torturers and called for political opponents to be shot, earning him the label of “the most misogynistic, hateful elected official in the democratic world”.

But he built a successful campaign on fear over rising violent crime, anger over repeated corruption scandals and an efficient social media operation.

“To his supporters Bolsonaro represents law and order and that’s a very compelling message in a country with 60,000 homicides a year and the biggest corruption scandal ever detected anywhere,” Brian Winter, the editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, told the Guardian earlier this year.

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