Brazil’s New President Set to Give Military More Clout
Ex-army captain has promised to appoint military men who served alongside him under dictatorship
Hard-liner Jair Bolsonaro clinched 55% of the vote to become Brazil's next president. The WSJ explains how the firebrand ex-army captain plans to change Latin America's largest nation. Photo: EPA
RIO DE JANEIRO—Brazil’s President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, the ex-army captain who stormed to power Sunday, is poised to give the military its biggest role in the country’s government since the fall of the dictatorship more than three decades ago.
To the surprise of some voters, Mr. Bolsonaro spent much of his victory speech backtracking on his most extreme statements from decades past. He vowed to defend democracy after once saying in 1999 that only a civil war could solve Brazil’s problems, and promised to respect racial and...