Jair Bolsonaro has won Brazil’s Presidential election in the final round. With 88% of votes counted, Bolsonaro has secured 55.7% of the vote, defeating the Workers Party candidate Fernando Haddad. Bolsonaro has been propelled to victory by a sophisticated imperialist intervention coordinated by the US, in alliance with the right wing in Brazil.
The outcome Brazil’s Presidential election taking place this Sunday is of the greatest importance for the people of Brazil, Latin America and for all progressive people across the world. A victory for the far right front runner, Jair Bolsonaro, would be catastrophic: the safety and welfare of tens of millions of Brazilians will be in peril, Brazil’s democracy will be under threat, the struggle to stop climate change severely compromised and Brazil’s independence and sovereignty undermined by the handing over the country’s foreign policy to Donald Trump in Washington. Aggressively stepping up the US's policy of regime change against the socialist government of Brazil’s neighbour, Venezuela, will be high on the list of priorities for Trump if Bolsonaro wins the Presidency. Only a victory for the Workers Party candidate, Fernando Haddad, can prevent this disaster and instead set Brazil back onto a course for social progress and independence from the US.
Just days before Brazilians go to the polls to elect their next President, far right front runner Jair Bolsonaro made the following threat: “these red outlaws will be banished from our homeland. It will be a clean-up, the likes of which has never been seen in Brazilian history.” Bolsonaro, a former Army Captain and admirer of Brazil’s former military dictatorship added, “either they go overseas, or they go to jail.” He was referring to the leaders and supporters of Brazil’s left, which is tens of millions strong.
With just over a week to go until the final round of Brazil’s Presidential election the left are hitting back against the tsunami of far right fake news emanating from Jair Bolsonaro’s campaign. Bolsonaro’s support has surged in recent weeks as a result of a sophisticated social media campaign which, under the guidance of Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon, has bombarded the electorate with fake news, lies and slander all targeting the left’s candidates for President (Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party) and Vice President (Manuela D’Avila of the Communist Party of Brazil).
Brazilian army officers have been playing an increasing role the building of far-right Presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro’s platform. Three generals are now working on his economic and infrastructure plans: Oswaldo Ferreira, Augusto Heleno, and Aléssio Ribeiro Souto.
Jair Bolsonaro’s rapid rise to become front-runner in Brazil’s Presidential election is being accompanied by a wave of violence. His far right supporters have brutally attacked the left, women, Black people, LGBT people and journalists. If Bolsonaro wins the Presidency on Sunday 28 October – as Brazil’s leading pollsters are currently predicting - the situation facing the left, the labour movement, the working class and the oppressed in Brazil will be extremely dangerous. It is therefore vital that the working class movement and all those supporting democracy outside Brazil are fully aware of the full extent of the wave of violence Bolsonaro’s supporters are unleashing and which his entire campaign encourages. The events described below are simply a small part of the violence unfolding in Brazil.
Prominent US Senator Bernie Sanders has spoken out against the threat posed to human rights and democracy in the event that Jair Bolsonaro, the far right frontrunner in the race to be the next President of Brazil, wins in the second round of voting on Sunday 28 October. Sanders also reiterated his support for Brazil’s … Continue reading #EleNao to Bolsonaro and #LulaLivre – says Bernie Sanders
