Brazil: Far-right congressman Jair Bolsonaro has been sworn in as Brazil`s new President and he promised to build a "society without discrimination or division". The 63-year-old former army captain in his inaugural speech on Tuesday talked about a "national pact" to free Brazil of corruption, crime and economic mismanagement, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

After being sworn in front of the Congress, Bolsonaro went on to the Planalto Palace where the outgoing President, Michel Temer, handed over the presidential sash. Speaking afterwards, he said Brazil would "start to free itself of socialism" and "political correctness".

US President Donald Trump commended him for his speech, saying the US was "with" him. Among the foreign guests at the inauguration were US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Bolsonaro won the presidential election by a wide margin against Fernando Haddad of the left-wing Workers Party on October 28, 2018. Despite portraying himself as a political outsider during his campaign, Bolsonaro served seven terms in Brazil`s lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, before being elected President. He has been a member of several political parties but is currently in the Social Liberal Party. </s> Bolsonaro sworn in as Brazil’s new president

BRASÍLIA: Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right politician vowing a crackdown on crime and corruption, was sworn in Tuesday as Brazil's new president in front of Congress in Brasilia.

The former paratrooper and deputy for the past 27 years pledged to uphold the constitution as he embarked on his four-year mandate at the helm of Latin America's biggest economy. Brazil entered a new chapter in its history, embracing a far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, whose determination to break with decades of centrist rule has raised both hopes and fears.

The former paratrooper and longtime lawmaker was starting his four-year mandate on January 1 as required by the constitution, after a night of New Year's celebrations across the country.

He was taking office with a sky-high approval rating, fueled by public expectations that he will be a new broom sweeping away chronic crime and corruption, and boosting an economy still limping after a record recession.

"I will bring in politics completely different from that which brought corruption and inefficiency to Brazil," he said late Monday in an interview with Record TV.

The 63-year-old comfortably won an October election against Fernando Haddad, a candidate from the leftwing Workers Party that was in power between 2003 and 2016 but is now reviled after a series of graft scandals.

The Workers Party icon, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is serving prison time for corruption. And his chosen successor Dilma Rousseff was impeached for cooking the government's books.

In a ceremony marked by pomp and high security, Bolsonaro will formally take over from center-right Michel Temer, who succeeded Rousseff but made little headway with needed fiscal reform and ended up Brazil's most unpopular leader ever.

Bolsonaro voters hope their man will do better.

He has promised to govern for all of the country's 210 million Brazilians, and campaigned on vows to eradicate graft, crack down on crime, open up Brazil's protectionist economy to the free market, and put business interests ahead of environmental protection.

In his interview, he said "we will debureaucratize to the maximum possible" and "clean out" the government so its "weight" is cut back. But there has been no sign of him dropping the bluff, shoot-from-the-lip style that has earned him comparisons with US President Donald Trump, whom he admires. </s> Jair Bolsonaro, Michelle Bolsonaro, Hamilton Mourao and Paula Mourao are welcomed by Michel Temer (front left) and his wife, Marcela Temer, at the Planalto after the swearing-in ceremony at the National Congress </s> President Cyril Ramaphosa has conveyed on behalf of the Government and people of South Africa, his sincere greetings and best wishes to President Jair Bolsonaro, on the occasion of his Presidential inauguration on 1 January 2019, as he assumes his role and official duties as the 38th President of the Federative Republic of Brazil. It […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has conveyed on behalf of the Government and people of South Africa, his sincere greetings and best wishes to President Jair B...



Source : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric... </s> Brazil’s new president Jair Bolsonaro announced he would immediately ease gun laws and fight “the Marxist trash” he says is being taught in Brazil’s classrooms.

The former paratrooper plans to make it easier for adults over 25 to own firearms as long as they don’t have a criminal record.

“One of the goals to take Brazil from the worst positions in the world’s education rankings is to combat the Marxist trash that has settled in educational institutions,” he tweeted, translated from Portuguese. “Together with the Minister of Education and others involved we will evolve into forming citizens and no more political militants.”

Bolsonaro wants more law-abiding gun owners to discourage crime in Brazil, which has seen nearly 64,000 murders last year alone.

“The announcements underlined Bolsonaro’s desire to break with decades of center-left rule in Brazil, as he prepares to take over from President Michel Temer, a center-right caretaker figure who served the past two years and finished with historic unpopularity,” reported France24. </s> The inauguration of former army Captain turned congressman Jair Bolsonaro was held today in Brazil; delivering the first nationalist outlook to the office of the presidency in decades.

President Jair Bolsonaro and First-Lady of Brazil Michelle Bolsonaro both delivered speeches during the inauguration ceremony, with the first lady also using sign language (her father is deaf).

President Bolsonaro now takes the reins of Latin America’s largest and most populous nation after decades of corruption carried out by Brazil’s far-left politicians. Many will remember a failed assassination attempt on candidate Bolsonaro by opposition from the socialist workers party only a few weeks before the election. Bolsonaro has vowed to end business-as-usual governing which led to rampant corruption.

Many people within the far-left ridiculed Bolsonaro while he was a congressman and stated his Brazil-First outlook was too nationalistic amid a world now driven by global influence. The marginalization by those voices failed and now President Bolsonaro will likely chart a different course. (Sound familiar?)

There are many similarities in national outlook between U.S. President Donald Trump and President Bolsonaro especially regarding economics and trade. Additionally, following a similar decision by President Trump, Brazil will now move their Israeli embassy to Jerusalem.

Overall the U.S. Brazil relationship could make for an interesting alignment in South/Latin America; this relationship will become particularly important around the geopolitical strategy and influence of China in the region.

The 63-year-old President campaigned heavily on an anti-corruption, Brazil-first, nationalist agenda and promised to support gun ownership rights for law-abiding people within Brazil. Both Trump and Bolsonaro are opposed by the same groups. </s> Brazil's President-elect, Jair Bolsonaro, confirmed Thursday that he intends to move his country's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"As previously stated during our campaign, we intend to transfer the Brazilian Embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. Israel is a sovereign state and we shall duly respect that," he wrote in a Facebook post.

If Bolsonaro keeps this campaign promise, Brazil will be the third country to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, after the United States and Guatemala.

Bolsonaro was elected as Brazil's next president on Oct.28 and plans to take office on Jan. 1.

President Donald Trump congratulated Bolsonaro on his win on Twitter this week.

"Had a very good conversation with the newly elected President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who won his race by a substantial margin. We agreed that Brazil and the United States will work closely together on Trade, Military and everything else! Excellent call, wished him congrats!" Trump tweeted. </s> RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Brazilians elected a president who is a far-right, ardently pro-Israel veteran pol who once declared “My heart is green, yellow, blue and white,” in a reference to the colors of the Israeli and Brazilian flags.

Jair Bolsonaro, a 63-year-old seven-term congressman who built his campaign around pledges to crush corruption and crime, secured over 55 percent of the vote, an 11 percent lead over his far-left rival Fernando Haddad.

“We cannot continue flirting with socialism, communism, populism and leftist extremism … We are going to change the destiny of Brazil,” said Bolsonaro in his late Sunday night acceptance speech broadcast from his home in Rio, which showed a Jewish menorah in the background of the video.

Highly divisive among Jewish voters, the Conservative lawmaker — whose middle name, Messias, literally means “messiah” — won the ballot after a drama-filled election that looks set to radically reforge the future of the world’s fourth biggest democracy, leaving nearly 15 years of far-left governments behind.

“I have just congratulated president-elect @jairbolsonaro for the historic victory won today. Once the election is over, it is time for all, united, to continue working for Brazil,” Brazil’s President Michel Temer, who rose to power to replace impeached Dilma Rousseff, tweeted overnight.

For many Jewish voters, Bolsonaro has always been a dream president. He has declared he will move the Brazilian embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. His first international trip as president, he said, will be to Israel, with which he will seek to broaden the dialogue. And he promised to close the Palestinian embassy in Brasilia.

“Is Palestine a country? Palestine is not a country, so there should be no embassy here,” Bolsonaro said weeks ago. “You do not negotiate with terrorists.”

RELATED: How ‘Brazil’s Trump’ is winning over Jewish voters

The pol’s victory means, many hope, the longtime anti-Israel sentiment of far-left Rouseff and Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence for corruption and money laundering. One low point in Brazil-Israel relations came in 2014, when the Brazilian government recalled its ambassador to Israel for consultations during that summer’s war in Gaza, and a former special adviser to Rouseff described Israeli military actions there as a “massacre.”

“Bolsonaro stood out among the many candidates for including the State of Israel in the major speeches he made during the campaign,” Israel’s honorary consul in Rio, Osias Wurman, told JTA last week. “He is a lover of the people and the State of Israel.”

On Sept. 6, Bolsonaro was stabbed and seriously injured during a street rally while campaigning. After receiving local emergency treatment, Bolsonaro chose to be transferred to a Jewish hospital in Sao Paulo to recover from life-threatening injuries. The fact that the politician declined treatment offered by the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital, an elite hospital commonly chosen by senior politicians, led to conspiracy theories in social media.

The most radical among Bolsonaro’s nearly 10 million followers suggested his life would be at risk at a place “by the hands of Arab and Muslim doctors,” adding that at the Jewish-led Albert Einstein hospital, Israel’s Mossad would be able to protect him.

Dubbed “Brazil’s Trump,” Brazil’s president-elect is referred to by opponents as “extreme” and “a risk” to democracy. The former army captain waxes nostalgic about Brazil’s 1964-1985 military regime, and has derided gays, women and minorities. Some have gone so far as to liken him to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Bolsonaro’s supporters usually refer to him by the nickname “Mito,” from the word myth or legend. His three sons, also politicians, have been photographed wearing T-shirts with messages in Hebrew. One of them was elected senator earlier this month. </s> RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil's ex-president Michel Temer was arrested on Thursday (Mar 21) as part of a sprawling anti-corruption probe that has already claimed dozens of political and corporate scalps, media reports said.

Temer, the predecessor of current President Jair Bolsonaro, was Brazil's most unpopular leader ever and faced a number of corruption accusations on leaving office last year.

Police arrested Temer in Sao Paulo on the order of a federal criminal judge, reports said. Former mines and energy minister Moreira Franco was also detained.

The so-called Car Wash investigation uncovered a vast graft operation involving Petrobras and major construction companies and bribes to politicians of several parties.

Temer, a centre-right politician, took over as a caretaker figure after the last Workers Party president, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached and removed from office in 2016.
Jair Bolsonaro is inaugurated as the 38th president of Brazil, succeeding Michel Temer.