Explaining Brazil #126: You give Brazil a bad name

Photo: Rick Bajornas/UN Photo

The 75th edition of the United Nations General Assembly was a unique one. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, leaders did not attend the UN headquarters, in New York, sending in pre-recorded speeches instead. The result was perhaps the worst Zoom conference ever. Brazil opened the general debates, as is customary — with President Jair Bolsonaro using his 14 minutes to spread multiple falsehoods and pander to his own base — instead of addressing the world’s concerns about Brazil.

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On this episode:

Guilherme Casarões holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of São Paulo. He is the deputy-coordinator of the Public Administration School at think tank Fundação Getulio Vargas, and has launched the Observatory of the Far-Right, a project to monitor the behavior of extremist groups in the political arena.

Background reading:

Read the transcripts of Jair Bolsonaro’s address to the United Nations General Assembly. If you are a premium subscriber of The Brazilian Report, the speech didn’t catch you off guard — we had already revealed the core points of the address last week.
By the way, do you know why Brazil speaks first at the UN General Assembly?
Listen to Episode #79, which talks about Mr. Bolsonaro’s 2019 UN debut — with a speech that outraged multiple international observers.
Lucas Berti explains Brazil’s role in the United Nations: before and after Jair Bolsonaro and the country’s involvement in UN peacekeeping efforts.
Jair Bolsonaro used his speech to praise U.S. President Donald Trump — but Mr. Trump could be out of office by January 2021. What would change if Joe Biden wins the U.S. election?
Three groups clash for foreign policy control in the Bolsonaro administration. Political scientist Maurício Santoro explains.

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Gustavo Ribeiro

An award-winning journalist, Gustavo has extensive experience covering Brazilian politics and international affairs. He has been featured across Brazilian and French media outlets and founded The Brazilian Report in 2017. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science and Latin American studies from Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris.