Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday (September 4th) opened a new controversy by apologizing to the Pinochet regime for rejecting the criticism of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President Michelle Bachelet of Chile, personally marked by dictatorship.
Jair Bolsonaro denounced Wednesday "the interference, in line (of French President Emmanuel) Macron", of the UN "in the domestic affairs and sovereignty" of Brazil, after Michelle Bachelet lamented a "shrinking of the democratic space ".
The Brazilian president accused Michelle Bachelet on Twitter of defending "the bandits who attack our brave civilian and military police" when she was worried about extra-judicial executions by the police.
- Michelle Bachelet, Comissária dos Direitos Humanos da ONU, seguindo a linha do Macron em se intrometer nos assuntos internos e na soberania brasileira, investe contra o Brasil na agenda of direitos humanos (de bandidos), atacando nossos valorosos policiais civis e militares. pic.twitter.com/0WT7vxgN9R
Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) September 4, 2019Personal attack of Bolsonaro
Jair Bolsonaro then personally attacked the former president of Chile on Facebook. "It forgets that Chile did not become a (new) Cuba thanks to those who had the courage to overthrow the left in 1973, among these communists, his father," wrote the president, apologue assumed otherwise from the dictatorship in Brazil.
Michelle Bachelet's father, Alberto Bachelet, an aviation general, died in prison at the age of 50, where he was tortured a year after Augusto Pinochet's coup. The remarks on Pinochet shocked Chile, where President Sebastian Pinera said in a public statement: "I do not agree with President Bolsonaro's reference to an ex-president of Chile, and in particular on a subject as painful as the death of his father ".
Bolsonaro's first speech at the UN
Jair Bolsonaro continued his personal attacks on Michelle Bachelet. "When people have nothing to do, they will occupy a human rights seat at the UN," he joked in front of the press about the former president, who left the power in 2018.
"In recent months, we have seen a shrinking of civic and democratic space, characterized by attacks on human rights defenders, restrictions on the work of civil society," Michelle Bachelet said in Geneva. She reported an "increase" in the number of people killed by police officers in Brazil, noting that the violence affected mainly Afro-Brazilians and favela residents.
The Brazilian Foreign Ministry said it received "indignantly" Michelle Bachelet's comments, and asked her services to avoid "rushes, lies and inappropriate quotations when commenting on the domestic politics of a democratic country. like Brazil ".
The attacks came three weeks before Jair Bolsonaro delivered the first speech of the UN General Assembly on September 24 in New York.
Arm wrestling with Emmanuel Macron
In mentioning Emmanuel Macron in his tweet, the Brazilian president alluded to the stand-off that has been opposing them for two weeks, on a completely different issue: the fires in the Amazon, described as an "international crisis" by France.
Jair Bolsonaro demands, before any discussion with Paris, that the French president "retracts" after having evoked an internationalization of the preservation of the Amazon. Brazil is constantly reaffirming its sovereignty over the 60% of the gigantic tropical forest it shelters.
Michelle Bachelet also told the press the Amazon, affected by thousands of volunteer fires to make way for crops and cattle breeding. "With regard to the Amazon, 33% of fires occur in indigenous lands or in protected areas," said the former president.
>> To read also: The stormy relations of Emmanuel Macron and Jair Bolsonaro
Pressure from the international community
"Illegal exploitation of natural resources, mainly agricultural, forestry and mining": for Michelle Bachelet, this "violence related to the protection of the environment" is observed throughout the country and strikes "especially the indigenous communities".
Under intense pressure from the international community, France in the lead, Jair Bolsonaro bowed on the theme of the sovereignty of Brazil, dear to its electoral base. On the occasion of the celebration of Independence Day on Saturday, the ex-captain of the army called the Brazilians to go out on the streets dressed in yellow and green, the colors of the national flag, to "show the world that here is Brazil "and that" the Amazon belongs to us ".
Students and opposition groups called on them to protest Saturday dressed in black as a sign of "mourning" related to government policy.
With AFP