Jair Bolsonaro was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turned into a conservative party before cutting ties with it.
135 Facts About Jair Bolsonaro
2.
From 1991 to 2018, Bolsonaro served in Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, representing the state of Rio de Janeiro.
3.
Jair Bolsonaro was born in Glicerio, in the state of Sao Paulo.
4.
Jair Bolsonaro graduated from the Agulhas Negras Military Academy in 1977 and served in the Brazilian Army's field artillery and parachutist units.
5.
Jair Bolsonaro became known to the public in 1986, when he wrote an article for Veja magazine criticizing low wages for military officers, after which he was arrested and detained for 15 days.
6.
Jair Bolsonaro moved to the reserve in 1988 with the rank of captain and ran for the Rio de Janeiro City Council that year, elected as a member of the Christian Democratic Party.
7.
In 1990, Jair Bolsonaro was elected to the lower chamber of Congress and he was reelected six times.
8.
Jair Bolsonaro is a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, abortion, affirmative action, drug liberalization, and secularism.
9.
Jair Bolsonaro announced his candidacy for president in March 2016 as a member of the Social Christian Party.
10.
Jair Bolsonaro left the party in 2018 and joined the Social Liberal Party, and then launched his presidential campaign in August that year, with retired general Hamilton Mourao as his running mate.
11.
Jair Bolsonaro portrayed himself as an outsider and a supporter of family values.
12.
Jair Bolsonaro came in first place in the first round of the general election on 7October 2018, with Workers' Party candidate Fernando Haddad coming in second.
13.
Jair Bolsonaro placed many army officers in key positions in his cabinet.
14.
Jair Bolsonaro focused on domestic affairs in his first months in office, dealing primarily with the fallout of the 2014 Brazilian economic crisis.
15.
In 2019, Jair Bolsonaro left the Social Liberal Party amid a confrontation with other members and attempted to form the Alliance for Brazil party, before joining the Liberal Party to run for the 2022 Brazilian general election.
16.
On 30 October 2022, in the runoff of the 2022 Brazilian general election, Jair Bolsonaro lost to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, becoming the first president in Brazil to lose his bid for re-election.
17.
Jair Bolsonaro was born on 21 March 1955 in Glicerio, Sao Paulo, in southeast Brazil, to Percy Geraldo Jair Bolsonaro and Olinda Bonturi.
18.
Jair Bolsonaro's family is mostly of Italian descent, with German ancestry as well.
19.
Jair Bolsonaro's great-grandfather, Vittorio Bolzonaro, was born on 12 April 1878.
20.
Jair Bolsonaro's German ancestry came from his father's maternal grandfather, Carl "Carlos" Hintze, born in Hamburg around 1876, who immigrated to Brazil in 1883.
21.
Jair Bolsonaro's maternal grandparents were born in Lucca, in Tuscany, and went to live in Brazil in the 1890s.
22.
On 21 January 2022, his mother Olinda Bonturi Jair Bolsonaro died at age 94.
23.
Jair Bolsonaro spent most of his childhood moving around Sao Paulo with his family, living in Ribeira, Jundiai, and Sete Barras, before settling in Eldorado, in the state's southern region, in 1966, where he grew up with his five brothers.
24.
Jair Bolsonaro's first name is a tribute to Jair da Rosa Pinto, a football player for Palmeiras at the time of Bolsonaro's birth who celebrated his 34th birthday on the same day.
25.
Jair Bolsonaro served in the 9th Field Artillery Group, in Nioaque, Mato Grosso do Sul.
26.
Jair Bolsonaro's first rise to publicity came in 1986 when he gave an interview to the news magazine Veja.
27.
The general in charge of reporting the case voted to acquit Jair Bolsonaro, arguing that he had already been penalized for the initial Veja article, that there was no testimonial evidence of his plans to plant bombs, and that there were "deep contradictions in the four graphological exams", two of which failed to conclude that Jair Bolsonaro was the author of the sketches.
28.
Jair Bolsonaro was acquitted by the majority of the court.
29.
Jair Bolsonaro served in the military for 15 years, reaching the rank of captain.
30.
Jair Bolsonaro entered politics in 1988, elected city councilor in Rio de Janeiro, representing the Christian Democratic Party.
31.
Jair Bolsonaro spent only two years in the Municipal Chamber of Rio de Janeiro.
32.
Jair Bolsonaro was described as a quiet, discreet and conservative councilor, and showed little participation.
33.
Jair Bolsonaro served seven consecutive terms, from 1991 to 2018.
34.
Jair Bolsonaro has been affiliated with several other Brazilian political parties over the years.
35.
Jair Bolsonaro's name was listed on the "Lista de Furnas", a list detailing a corruption and money laundering scheme involving the state-owned electricity company, Eletrobras Furnas.
36.
Jair Bolsonaro received housing assistance for deputies who do not have residences in Brasilia despite having an apartment in the southwest of Brasilia.
37.
In January 2018, Jair Bolsonaro abandoned the Social Christian Party and switched to the Social Liberal Party.
38.
Jair Bolsonaro said he planned to cut taxes across the board, particularly on inheritances and businesses, to generate growth and tackle unemployment.
39.
Jair Bolsonaro promised more austerity measures and cuts in government spending, but had difficulty naming the areas where he would make cuts.
40.
Jair Bolsonaro said he would work to diminish the federal government's size and bureaucracy by enacting a wide variety of deregulation measures.
41.
On 9 August 2018, Jair Bolsonaro attended the first presidential debate of the year, organized by the TV network Rede Bandeirantes.
42.
The "edge of the beach", a Jair Bolsonaro aide later confirmed, was a reference to a Navy base at Restinga da Marambaia, in Rio de Janeiro State, where the Brazilian military dictatorship tortured and killed dissidents.
43.
Harvard's Steven Levitsky said that Jair Bolsonaro "is clearly authoritarian", but not a fascist.
44.
Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed in the abdomen on 6September 2018 while campaigning and interacting with supporters in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais.
45.
At first, his son Flavio Jair Bolsonaro stated that his father's wounds were only superficial and he was recovering in the hospital, but he later said the wounds seemed worse than initially thought and his father most likely would not be able to start campaigning personally before the end of the first round.
46.
Jair Bolsonaro tweeted about his father's condition, explaining that the perforation had reached parts of the liver, lung, and intestine.
47.
Jair Bolsonaro said that Bolsonaro had lost a large amount of blood, arriving at the hospital with severe hypotension, but that he had since stabilized.
48.
The day after the attack, Jair Bolsonaro was transferred to the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in Sao Paulo, after a request from his family.
49.
Jair Bolsonaro had been a member of the Socialism and Liberty Party from 2007 to 2014.
50.
Jair Bolsonaro's condition prevented him from returning to the campaign trail for the remainder of the first round of the presidential election.
51.
Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in as President of the Republic on 1January 2019, succeeding Michel Temer.
52.
Jair Bolsonaro began to get his cabinet together before his inauguration, choosing economist Paulo Guedes as his Economy minister and astronaut Marcos Pontes as his Science and Technology minister.
53.
Jair Bolsonaro's ministers included Operation Car Wash judge Sergio Moro as Justice minister and congresswoman Tereza Cristina as minister of Agriculture.
54.
Early in his administration, Jair Bolsonaro focused primarily on domestic and economic issues, ranging from tax reform to changes in social security, but he faced an uphill battle with Congress.
55.
Jair Bolsonaro stripped the indigenous affairs agency FUNAI of the responsibility to identify and demarcate indigenous lands, arguing that those territories have tiny, isolated populations who would be controlled by NPOs, and proposed to integrate them into the larger Brazilian society.
56.
Argentine President Mauricio Macri was the first foreign leader Jair Bolsonaro received on a state visit to Brasilia after he became president.
57.
Jair Bolsonaro did not attend Maduro's inauguration and recognized Guaido as the legitimate ruler of Venezuela, alongside Mauricio Macri from Argentina and Donald Trump from the US, among others.
58.
Jair Bolsonaro said that "We will continue doing everything possible to re-establish order, democracy and freedom there".
59.
Meanwhile, after allegations of campaign-finance fraud, Jair Bolsonaro fired Gustavo Bebianno, a top adviser and general secretary for the president.
60.
Jair Bolsonaro's party was accused of diverting public campaign funds to candidates who did not run for office.
61.
In November 2019, Jair Bolsonaro left the Social Liberal Party due to conflicts with its leadership.
62.
Jair Bolsonaro attempted to form his own party, Alliance for Brazil, but it failed to gather enough signatures to register at the Superior Electoral Court for the 2020 Brazilian municipal elections or the 2022 Brazilian general election, leaving Bolsonaro without a party until 2021.
63.
Jair Bolsonaro claimed that COVID-19 is no deadlier than "the flu" and that his priority was the nation's economic recovery rather than the health crisis.
64.
Jair Bolsonaro continually accused political opponents and the press of exaggerating the threat of the virus and called it a "fantasy" created by the media.
65.
Days after Brazil surpassed Russia as the country worst hit by COVID, Jair Bolsonaro held a political rally in Brasilia; while surrounded by supporters and his own security guards, who were wearing masks, he did not.
66.
In other videos, Jair Bolsonaro criticized efforts to stop the spread of the virus, such as wearing masks or taking the vaccine.
67.
In July 2021, Jair Bolsonaro claimed on Brazilian radio that his government's greatest achievement was "two and a half years without corruption".
68.
The parade was announced only a day in advance, and passed by the national congressional building, where lawmakers were due to vote on Jair Bolsonaro's proposed election-related changes hours later.
69.
On 28 July 2021, Jair Bolsonaro appointed Ciro Noguiera, a senator who was implicated in the Odebrecht corruption case, as his chief of staff.
70.
In mid-August 2021, Jair Bolsonaro warned of a potential "institutional rupture", while urging the Brazilian Senate to charge de Moraes and another Supreme Court Judge, Luis Roberto Barroso, the leader of the electoral court.
71.
Jair Bolsonaro negotiated with the Progressistas, of which he was a member from 1995 to 2003 and from 2005 to 2016, and the Social Christian Party, of which he was a member from 2016 to 2018, the Brazilian Labour Party, Brazilian Woman's Party, Christian Democracy, Party of National Mobilization, the Republicans and Patriot.
72.
Jair Bolsonaro previously made deals with the Centrao for support in Congress.
73.
On 23 June 2022, Jair Bolsonaro defended his former Minister of Education, Milton Ribeiro, after the latter was arrested on corruption charges.
74.
Jair Bolsonaro arrived in Florida before his term ended, and has since resided in Kissimmee, near Disney World in Orlando.
75.
Jair Bolsonaro eventually condemned the protesters in a tweet, but denied responsibility.
76.
In February 2023, Jair Bolsonaro announced that he would be returning to Brazil in March.
77.
Jair Bolsonaro returned to Brazil in March 2023 for the first time since his supporters stormed the Supreme Court, Congress, and the presidential palace two months before.
78.
Jair Bolsonaro has stated that he is returning to the country to help his party and asserted that he intended to campaign for the 2024 local elections.
79.
On 14 April 2023, Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered Jair Bolsonaro to submit himself for questioning to the Federal Police over the storming of the Congress on January 8,2023.
80.
Jair Bolsonaro's electorate is mainly formed by adults above the age of 34, the working middle to upper class, conservatives in general, college graduates, some centrists and the Christian right.
81.
Jair Bolsonaro's voters are usually male and white, with a noticeable gender gap, with Bolsonaro polling poorly among female voters.
82.
Jair Bolsonaro is viewed as a pro-life, anti-establishment and pro-gun politician, voicing opposition to most forms of gun control legislation, arguing that law-abiding citizens have the right to self-defense, especially those living in rural areas.
83.
Jair Bolsonaro has called for police to use more lethal force and wants to relax gun laws so that average citizens can defend themselves.
84.
Jair Bolsonaro is known for his strong opposition to left-wing policies.
85.
Jair Bolsonaro has made statements in defense of the Brazilian military regime.
86.
Jair Bolsonaro argues that torture is a "legitimate practice" and says that he would try to pass new legislation regarding the introduction of life imprisonment to the Brazilian penal code.
87.
Jair Bolsonaro reiterated that he intends to reverse some disarmament laws, improve public security, and improve trade ties with the United States, which he said were broken during Lula da Silva's and Dilma Rousseff's administrations.
88.
Jair Bolsonaro has, during his long political career, expressed views regarded as being far-right.
89.
Jair Bolsonaro is an open admirer of former US President Donald Trump.
90.
On 1 May 2019, Jair Bolsonaro awarded the Brazilian conservative writer and far-right conspiracy theorist Olavo de Carvalho the Order of Rio Branco honorific order.
91.
Carvalho was sometimes harshly critical of Jair Bolsonaro, even calling him "dumb".
92.
Jair Bolsonaro said in 1993, eight years after the return of democracy, that the military regime had "led to a more sustainable and prosperous Brazil".
93.
Jair Bolsonaro has publicly referred to the military dictatorship as a "glorious" period in Brazil's history, and that under the military dictatorship, Brazil enjoyed "20 years of order and progress".
94.
In December 2008, Jair Bolsonaro said that "the error of the dictatorship was that it tortured, but did not kill".
95.
Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly made admiring comments about a number of other Latin American dictatorships.
96.
Jair Bolsonaro praised Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori as a role model for his use of military intervention via self-coup against the judiciary and legislature.
97.
In 1999, Jair Bolsonaro said that Hugo Chavez represented "hope for Latin America", comments that became a matter of controversy during the 2018 campaign, when Jair Bolsonaro presented himself as a harsh critic of Chavismo.
98.
In 2019, already in power, Jair Bolsonaro commended Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner as a "visionary" and "statesman", drawing immediate criticism, particularly due to multiple allegations of pedophilia against Stroessner.
99.
In March 2019, Jair Bolsonaro stated that the 1964 coup d'etat that overthrew President Joao Goulart was not a coup, and that 31 March, the day the coup was installed, should be "properly commemorated".
100.
Jair Bolsonaro said that the country should stop "praising dictators" and attacking democracies, such as the United States, Israel and Italy.
101.
Jair Bolsonaro said he wished to continue to do business with the Chinese but he said that Brazil should "make better [economic] deals" with other countries, with no "ideological agenda" behind it.
102.
However, Jair Bolsonaro mostly changed his position on China after he took office, saying that the two countries were "born to walk together" during his visit to Beijing in October 2019.
103.
Jair Bolsonaro said that Brazil would stay out of the ongoing China-US trade war.
104.
Jair Bolsonaro said that his first international trip as president would be to Israel.
105.
Jair Bolsonaro praised US President Donald Trump and his foreign policy, and has been called "the tropical Trump".
106.
Jair Bolsonaro is widely considered the most pro-American candidate in Brazil since the 1980s.
107.
US National Security Advisor John Bolton praised Jair Bolsonaro as a "like-minded" partner and said his victory was a "positive sign" for Latin America.
108.
Jair Bolsonaro had a fractious relationship with US President Joe Biden, and subsequently deepened ties with Russia, emphasising his neutrality over the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
109.
At the regional level, Jair Bolsonaro praised Argentine President Mauricio Macri for ending the 12-year rule of Nestor and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, which he saw as similar to Lula and Rousseff.
110.
Jair Bolsonaro has come out strongly against lands reserved for indigenous tribes.
111.
Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the Paris Agreement during his campaign.
112.
Ernesto Araujo, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs appointed by Jair Bolsonaro, has called global warming a plot by "cultural Marxists" and eliminated the Climate Change Division of the ministry.
113.
The Jair Bolsonaro administration decreased government efforts to combat illegal logging, ranching and mining in the Amazon.
114.
Jair Bolsonaro is a member of the Catholic Church and is registered as one with the Superior Electoral Court.
115.
Jair Bolsonaro is reported to have attended a Baptist church for 10 years.
116.
Jair Bolsonaro has denied saying that women should receive less than men; he claims it was statistical data by IBGE.
117.
Jair Bolsonaro provoked controversy for a series of remarks made to and about Federal Deputy and former Human Rights Minister Maria do Rosario.
118.
Jair Bolsonaro then stated that Congresswoman Rosario was "not worth raping; she is very ugly".
119.
Jair Bolsonaro faced a penalty of up to six months of jail and a fine.
120.
Jair Bolsonaro further argued that Brazil does not need legislation specifically targeting homophobia, because "most homosexuals are murdered by their respective pimps at hours when good citizens are already asleep".
121.
In British actor Stephen Fry's 2013 documentary Out There, Jair Bolsonaro said, "no father is ever proud of having a gay son" and "we Brazilians do not like homosexuals".
122.
On 9 November 2017, the Court of Justice for the State of Rio de Janeiro sentenced Jair Bolsonaro to pay a fine of R$150,000 for hate speech because of televised comments he made in 2011 to the CQC TV program, when Jair Bolsonaro stated that "there is no risk" of his family producing a homosexual child because his children had a "good education".
123.
However, on 11 January 2016, when he began to present himself as a pre-candidate to the Presidency of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro began to moderate his discourse on gay people by publishing a video on his official YouTube channel:.
124.
On multiple occasions, Jair Bolsonaro has publicly endorsed physical violence as a legitimate and necessary form of political action.
125.
In 1999, when he was 44 years old and a representative in the Brazilian Congress, Jair Bolsonaro said during a TV interview that the only way of "changing" Brazil was by "killing thirty thousand people, beginning with Fernando Henrique Cardoso".
126.
In 1999, talking about Chico Lopes, a former president of the Brazilian Central Bank who invoked his right to remain silent during a Congress hearing, Jair Bolsonaro declared himself in favor of torture in this sort of situation.
127.
Jair Bolsonaro provoked considerable controversy for public remarks made in July 2008, where he proposed to provide poor people with birth control methods, who he suggested might be too uneducated to understand family planning education.
128.
Jair Bolsonaro has endorsed conspiracy theories of voter fraud in past elections, including claims that attempts were made to rig the 2018 presidential election against him; he has questioned the outcome of the 2020 United States presidential election.
129.
Jair Bolsonaro has said that he will not accept the results of the 2022 election if electoral reforms are not implemented.
130.
The 2022 election occurred days after the success of far-right politician Giorgia Meloni in the 2022 Italian general election, with analysts noting that Jair Bolsonaro performed better than expected during the first round of elections and that his party's success has the potential to moderate Lula's government if Lula wins the election.
131.
Jair Bolsonaro has been married three times and has five children.
132.
Jair Bolsonaro was forced to fire her after the Supreme Federal Court ruled that nepotism is illegal in the public administration.
133.
Jair Bolsonaro has three granddaughters, two by his son Flavio and one by his son Eduardo.
134.
Eduardo and Flavio Jair Bolsonaro are evangelical Protestant Christians and members of the Baptist Church in Brazil.
135.
On October 25,2018, Jair Bolsonaro was presented with an honorary black belt by Robson Gracie despite never having trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu.