Weekly Show

VIDEO | Pro-Bolsonaro covid denialist and homophobic sportsman to seek seat in Congress

Loyalty to Bolsonaro and to the far right agenda are characteristics that unite the new candidates

São Paulo (SP) |
The doctor Nise Yamaguchi - Agência Senado

A new wave of Bolsonarist candidacies to Congress will try to take advantage, in the October elections, of the strife and confusion stimulated by President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters.

Continua após publicidade

An example of this is doctor Nise Yamaguchi, pointed out in the final report of Brazil’s Covid parliamentary commission of inquiry for her role as an advocate of “early treatment” with chloroquine and who is now running for the Senate. She represents science denialism, which is one of the ideological flagships of the Bolsonarist right in recent years.

"In the case of the president’s closest group of supporters, half a dozen names managed to quickly rise because there is a kind of inherent solidarity in the way individuals try to defend some agendas. The idea is that all those defending these ideas are some sort of heroes trying to enforce that information, that truth", says the Qualitative Intelligence Analyst Leonardo Paz Neves.

Also on What's Happening in Brazil: Portuguese isn’t the only language Brazilians speak. The country has more than two hundred seventy languages spoken by three hundred different indigenous peoples. To native people, the teaching of their mother tongues is a way to keep alive their cultures and tackle racism.

Former governor of São Paulo state, João Doria, gave up running for the presidency. The announcement was made on May 23rd. Doria had won the internal party elections of the Brazilian Social Democracy party (PSDB) last year but was met with resistance in his own party.

All What's Happening in Brazil episodes are available at Brasil de Fato's YouTube channel, where you'll also find a special English-content playlist. Partners who wish to include a longer version of the show in their schedule may contact our international team at [email protected].

For more news about Brazil and our region, visit our website.

Edited by: Arturo Hartmann