Brazil's Bolsonaro irks Chile with personal attack on U.N.'s Bachelet
SEPTEMBER 4, 2019 / 10:02 AM / 2 DAYS AGO
Stephanie Nebehay, Gabriel Stargardter, Aislinn Laing
4 MIN READ
GENEVA/RIO DE JANEIRO/SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro caused friction with regional ally Chile on Wednesday when he accused its former leader Michelle Bachelet of meddling in Brazil’s affairs by criticizing rising police violence and erosions of democracy.
Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain, reacted furiously to comments by Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who was tortured under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and was the first female Chilean president.
Bachelet told reporters she was concerned by a jump in killings by Rio de Janeiro police, backtracking on democratic norms and attacks on indigenous communities amid a rise in Amazon forest fires that have been a point of contention between Bolsonaro and leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron.
“Bachelet ... (is) following Macron’s line in meddling in domestic affairs and Brazilian sovereignty,” Bolsonaro wrote on Facebook. “She attacks Brazil with the agenda of the human rights (of criminals), attacking our valiant ... police.”
Bolsonaro also personally attacked Bachelet, whose father, an air force general, remained loyal to socialist President Salvador Allende after a 1973 coup in Chile and died in jail.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-diplomacy/bolsonaro-irks-chile-after-personal-attack-on-u-n-s-bachelet-idUSKCN1VP22D?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29&&rpc=401