Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro threatens purge of leftwing ‘outlaws’

brazil

The far-right favourite to become Brazil’s next president has vowed to spearhead a historic purge of his leftwing political foes in a menacing address that delighted supporters and left opponents outraged and unnerved.Jair Bolsonaro looks set for a landslide victory over his Workers’ party (PT) rival Fernando Haddad when the world’s fourth-largest democracy returns to the polls on Sunday for the decisive second round of its presidential election. Latest polls give him an 18-point lead over Haddad.

In a confrontational video address to supporters on Sunday, the pro-torture former paratrooper pledged to use the presidency to launch a frontal assault on his “red” political rivals. “Either they go overseas, or they go to jail,” Bolsonaro told thousands of cheering supporters who had packed Avenida Paulista, one of São Paulo’s main arteries, for one of his final campaign acts.(theguardian)…[+]