Model in well-being, education and economy, bad example in fireworks and racism. How Portugal and a heart are marking those of Brazil – Observer
You have free access to all the articles of the Observer for being our subscriber.
It is possibly the foreign country that has been talked about the most in the months leading up to the Brazilian presidential elections. Portugal has been a campaign theme and all candidates have already pointed to it as an example – positive or negative. A highlight in part predicted by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa who, in July, after Bolsonaro’s cancellation lunch, did not mince words. “What could have been a bitter taste in the mouth was a very sweet thing, seen in a medium-long term perspective”, he told journalists in São Paulo, stating that the ‘outside’ that the Brazilian President would allow Portugal to “become theme” — “so covered, so covered by the Brazilian media”.
And it wasn’t just the press. Even among candidates, has been pointed out as a reference: Ciro Gomes promised a plan to transform Brazil “into Portugal”; Soraya Thronicke (UB) stressed in a debate that the Portuguese President went to the teleschool to teach a class in the middle of the pandemic, Bolsonaro has already recalled the fires that torment the Portuguese to alleviate the responsibilities of his Government for the fires in the Amazon; and unlike the Brazilian President Lula, he discovered Marcelo in July — they took advantage of the racist insults to the children of actor Bruno Capa to make a promise: “We will build one without racism.”
Last week, he was the first in a round of interviews that TV Globo aired with the best-regarded Brazilian candidates in the polls and made reference to Portugal when being asked about its environmental policies. The question of the two journalists did not suggest any comparison with other countries — “The annual rate of deforestation in the Amazon has jumped, it is the highest in 15 years. Do you continue this policy of deregulation?” In his response, Bolsonaro made a point of using the examples of Portugal, France, the USA and Spain to show that it is not his government’s fault that forest fires are not involved.
This article is exclusive to our subscribers: subscribe now and benefit from unlimited reading and other benefits. Already a subscriber start your session here. If you think this message is in error, please contact our customer support.