Brazil has been ‘liberated from socialism’, declares new president Jair Bolsonaro
Brasilia — Brazil’s newly inaugurated President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday his election has freed the country from “socialism and political correctness”, and he vowed to tackle corruption, crime and economic mismanagement in Latin America’s largest nation. Bolsonaro, a former army captain turned legislator who openly admires Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship, promised in his first remarks as president to adhere to democratic norms, after his tirades against the media and political opponents had stirred unease. While investors hope Bolsonaro’s free-market stance will reinvigorate Brazil’s economy — the eighth largest in the world — environmentalists and rights groups are worried he will roll back protections for the Amazon rain forest and loosen gun controls in a country that already has the world’s highest number of murders. “This is the beginning of Brazil’s liberation from socialism, political correctness and a bloated state,” Bolsonaro, 63, said in an address to the na...
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