Bolsonaro’s misinformed address to the United Nations

President Bolsonaro's speech kicked off the 2020 UN General Assembly and, once again, his words were full of mistruths and inaccuracies

bolsonaro un general assembly speech — President Jair Bolsonaro recording his UN speech. Photo: Marcos Corrêa/PR

Sep 22, 2020 13:52 6 min read (Updated: Apr 05, 2021 7:46)

In 2019, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro shocked the world with a speech at the United Nations that was filled with disinformation and elements of domestic culture wars — nothing for international consumption, but purely for his own support base in Brazil. On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Bolsonaro’s second hurrah at the UN General Assembly touched on more international topics, but once again relied heavily on gaslighting the global audience — giving fact-checking agencies a field day.

In 14 and a half minutes, Mr. Bolsonaro made six false statements and five claims that were baseless or exaggerated.

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Bolsonaro’s misinformed address to the United Nations

President Bolsonaro's speech kicked off the 2020 UN General Assembly and, once again, his words were full of mistruths and inaccuracies

Access all of The Brazilian Report

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