WILL BRAZIL'S GENERALS RETURN TO POWER? THEY SAY NO

[Judi Lynn]

WILL BRAZIL'S GENERALS RETURN TO POWER? THEY SAY NO
By Andres Schipani & Joe Leahy
THE DAILY DOSE
NOV 20 2018

Brazil’s senior military leaders are moving to calm concerns that the incoming presidency of far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro will usher in the return of the armed forces to power in the world’s fourth-largest democracy.

The election of Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has expressed nostalgia for the country’s 1964–85 military dictatorship, did not “represent a return of the military to power,” says Gen. Eduardo Dias da Costa Villas Bôas, commander of the Brazilian army. “The military has been absent from politics since 1985, after the end of the military government, and that’s how it intends to maintain itself, independent of whether the president-elect is a retired captain from our Brazilian army,” he adds.

Once a fringe dweller in Brazil’s Congress for his views endorsing the country’s former military rule, including its use of torture, Bolsonaro has sought to allay concerns about his democratic credentials after winning elections late last month. Although he has a strong base of far-right supporters, his victory was also seen as a referendum on the leftist Workers’ Party (PT), which was bidding for a fifth consecutive presidency.

The PT presided over the country’s worst recession, biggest corruption scandal and a rising homicide rate in its last years in power, leading many voters to favor Bolsonaro’s promises of greater security and a return to traditional “family values.”

More:
https://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/will-brazils-generals-return-to-power-they-say-no/90694

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