President of Brazil criticized outgoing president in New Year’s speech
2023.01.01 06:04
President of Brazil criticized outgoing president in New Year’s speech
Budrigannews.com – In a veiled jab at Jair Bolsonaro in a New Year’s speech on Saturday, Brazil’s acting president Hamilton Mourao criticized the outgoing leader of the far right, Jair Bolsonaro, for allowing anti-democratic sentiment to flourish after this year’s election.
Mourao also criticized environmental backsliding following deforestation in the Amazon (NASDAQ:), while defending some aspects of Bolsonaro’s four years in power, such as leaving behind a strong economy. under his direction, it hit a 15-year high.
VP under Bolsonaro, Mourao conveyed the New Year discourse subsequent to taking over on Friday, while the active president traveled to Florida to try not to give up the official band to liberal President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at his Jan. 1 initiation.
Following his defeat in Brazil’s most contentious election in a generation, Bolsonaro remained virtually silent for several weeks.
Some of his backers have refused to accept Lula’s victory, believing Bolsonaro’s erroneous claims that the election in October was rigged. These claims have contributed to riots and a failed bomb plot in Brasilia, the capital.
In a seven-minute televised jab at Bolsonaro, Mourao said, “Leaders who were supposed to reassure and unite the nation around a project for the country allowed silence or inopportune and deleterious protagonism to create an atmosphere of chaos and social disintegration.”
Since his defeat, ardent Bolsonaro supporters have been camping outside army barracks, urging the military to carry out a coup and railing against the country’s Supreme Court, which Bolsonaro has accused of censoring right-wing voices and trampled on his executive authority.
Mourao, who is also a retired general in the armed forces, said that the country’s leaders, who he did not name, had “irresponsibly” left the armed forces exposed. He noted that some people had accused the military of encouraging protesters and others of not doing enough to oppose such demonstrations. Mourao also said that the military had been left exposed.
Mourao gave a speech that was surprising strong. In it, he praised democracy and said that on January 1, the country would just change governments, not regimes. He also said that people needed to go back to their normal lives.
The acting president stated, “The alternation of power in a democracy is healthy and must be preserved,” recalling some accomplishments while acknowledging the Bolsonaro administration’s environmental “mishaps” over time.
Mourao was elected as Bolsonaro’s running mate in 2018, but in this year’s election, the outgoing president selected Walter Braga Netto, a former Chief of Staff, to join his defeated ticket.
Instead, Mourao ran for Senate and won a seat as the Rio Grande do Sul state representative in Congress.
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