Jair Bolsonaro says in the US that his mission is not over yet

Former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said this Saturday afternoon (4), during his well-attended lecture at the Annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), on the outskirts of Washington, that his mission “does not is over” and that the left, fearful of his rise, has always seen him as a “target to be shot down”. “Despite everything, I’m still Brazil’s most beloved former president,” he joked.

In a speech attuned to the event’s audience, made up of Republican Party members and supporters of former President Donald Trump, he praised America’s values, narrated his victorious trajectory at the 2018 polls, listed achievements that boosted his popularity, questioned the mandatory vaccination against Covid-19, cast doubt on the results of the last presidential elections, both in Brazil and in the United States, and criticized the agenda of leftist governments.

“It’s not easy being a politician, even more so when you want to honor your word and help the people. I thank God for my second life, for the mission of being president of Brazil for one term. But I feel that this mission is not over yet”, said Bolsonaro on stage illustrated with screens that showed images of him surrounded by crowds in videos of rallies and motorcycle races.

For him, conservative politicians around the world defend something basic: the family, fighting against gender ideology, so that daughters grow up like their mothers and sons, like their fathers. And he completed this set of ideas with the defense of life from conception, against abortion. Referring to the first MST invasions under PT management, the former president stated that “private property, the pillar of democracy, is threatened in Brazil”.

As for Lula’s “new old government”, he regretted that the first measure taken by him was precisely to put an end to his initiatives, such as the easing of the carrying of weapons. “In my government, I have liberalized as much as possible, within the limits of the law, the regulations on carrying weapons. In four years, the number of deaths from firearms has decreased by a third, ”he spoke. “Armed people will never be enslaved and an armed country will never be subjugated”, he concluded, to applause from the audience.

By defending freedom of expression as essential to democracy, Bolsonaro exposed differences with the Lula government. “I was certainly the most attacked politician in the mainstream media, but even so, I never took action against her. It is better to have a press that makes mistakes than a silent one, ”he said. In contrast, he condemned “the anger around the world” for controlling social media. “For me, the best control is giving even more freedom”, he underlined.

He also took the opportunity to criticize an issue that recently opposed the governments of Brazil and the United States, with Lula’s authorization for the docking of Iranian warships. “If I were president, I wouldn’t have this problem,” he teased.

Nod to partnership with the US

In search of a strategic partnership between his PL and the Republican Party, the former president insisted on declaring admiration for the USA and its people (“the land of the brave, freedom, progress and order”) and classifying it as “ exceptional” his personal relationship with his colleague Donald Trump, the main star of the CPAC and who will speak at its closing. “I have always defended freedom, I have not forced anyone to take a vaccine in Brazil,” he declared.

Bolsonaro said that the phenomenon of migration of citizens from American states governed by Democrats to others governed by Republicans is repeated in Brazil, with people leaving places dominated by the left for others under management of the center or the right. “It is natural for people to seek better living conditions. With that can we say it’s right? Us [direita] or they [esquerda]?”

He said that he came from a poor family and never expected to be president, but decided to “face the challenge” of seeking the Presidency, after two decades in the Army and almost three in parliament, when he saw “a communist being re-elected” [Dilma Rousseff]. Under the biblical motto of “I will know the truth and the truth will set you free”, she said she won the election when no one believed.

In a brief assessment of his government, Bolsonaro said that, together with a ministry made up of qualified people, he had done his part over the course of four years that were marked by the pandemic and a military conflict between Russia and Ukraine with negative repercussions for the entire world. world. “The economy numbers showed that we were exponents”, he said. He lamented that Brazil is “a very rich nation, but one that has not developed” because “populism, corruption and communism have always dominated politics”.

Using the images reflected on the screens, Bolsonaro said that there was proof that he had much more support in 2022 than in 2018. [das urnas] showed the opposite”, he said, casting doubt on the results. Indirectly, he justified the fact by not having accepted to go “to the other side of the Esplanade, where my life would be easier”, in an indirect reference to agreements with the Judiciary.

“I preferred to side with my principles, God and the Brazilian people. Coherence is what marks our lives”, he pointed out. At that point, he made a point of remembering that he was the last president in the world to recognize Joe Biden’s election.

Despite his defeat in the election, Bolsonaro claimed to have “planted many seeds”, starting with the population’s greater interest in political issues and an increase in patriotism. “We elected deputies, senators and governors who were unknown, but with great potential”, he said. “Power emanates from the people, but the people need leaders who are faithful to them”.

Finally, he reinforced the importance of Brazil to the world, as a guarantor of food security for a billion people and owner of incomparable mineral wealth, in addition to an abundance of water resources and the Amazon, “which is ours”.