TeleSur (1/5/19)

Brazil’s newly-inaugurated [1/1/18] President Jair Bolsonaro announced a purge of government contractors who do not share the new administration’s far-right ideology.

Days after assuming the presidency, Bolsonaro has authorized the dismissal of some 300 state workers on temporary contracts.

“It’s the only way to govern with our ideas, our concepts and to carry out what Brazil’s society decided in its majority,” said Chief of Staff Onyx Lorenzoni at a press conference. He added that the purge aimed “to do away with the Socialist and Communist ideas that during 30 years have led us to the chaos in which we live.”

The sweep targets officials seen as sympathetic to centrist and left-wing parties and ideologies that have existed in Brazil since 1985, when the country transitioned from a military dictatorship to a democracy.

Bolsonaro, a 63-year-old former Army captain and supporter of Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964 – 1985) as well as of U.S. President Donald Trump, has repeatedly criticized the leftist Workers Party and its supporters. During his campaign, he warned that his opponents would have to “either go overseas or go to jail” if he won.

Rot in jail

“These red outlaws will be banished from our homeland. It will be a clean-up, the likes of which has never been seen in Brazilian history,” Bolsonaro declared in October, mentioning that “crooks” from Brazil’s landless workers’ movement (MST) would be designated as terrorists while the former president Lula da Silva would be left “to rot in jail.”

He has recently also vowed to join right-wing international efforts against progressive and leftists governments in the region such as Venezuela and Cuba.

Since his inauguration Tuesday, Bolsonaro has used executive orders to exclude Brazil’s LGBTI community from his government’s human rights policies, infringe on Indigenous people’s rights and environmental protections in favor of economic policies that promote agribusiness, and cater to U.S. military bases in the country.

Link to Story an 1-Minute Video

• Bolsonaro Unveils Mass Privatization Plan For Brazil While Slashing Taxes For Rich & Wages For Poor —  Ending his first week in office by quickly putting into action the far-right agenda he promoted during his campaign, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday unveiled economic proposals that critics says will worsen inequality across Brazil, putting corporate profits above the well-being of middle- and lower-class families. Privatization of airports and seaports, tax cuts for the rich, pension cuts, and a minimum wage set lower than Bolsonaro’s predecessor had planned were among the economic reforms the new president has in store for the country, as it moves toward what the new right-wing government calls a “minimal state.” … Read the Rest

 

• Putting The World At Risk: Jair Bolsonaro Launches Assault On Amazon Rainforest Protections — Hours after taking office, Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, has launched an assault on environmental and Amazon protections with an executive order transferring the regulation and creation of new indigenous reserves to the agriculture ministry – which is controlled by the powerful agribusiness lobby. The move sparked outcry from indigenous leaders, who said it threatened their reserves, which make up about 13% of Brazilian territory, and marked a symbolic concession to farming interests at a time when deforestation is rising again. “There will be an increase in deforestation and violence against indigenous people,” said Dinaman Tuxá, the executive coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous People of Brazil (Apib). “Indigenous people are defenders and protectors of the environment.” … Read the Rest and 1+-Minute Video

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