Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro delivered today his fourth — and possibly last — speech at the UN General Assembly. As with his previous appearances, Mr. Bolsonaro used this global stage less to address the international community and more to reach out to his own constituency in Brazil.
With 12 days until voters head to the polls, the far-right leader used his almost 20 minutes at the pulpit to boast about the economic achievements of his administration. After talking about Brazil’s role as a global food producer, he highlighted that gas prices in Brazil have been on a downward trend since his government intervened in the economy and stressed that unemployment rates have improved in recent months.
Speaking to The Brazilian Report, political scientist Mauricio Santoro noted that Mr. Bolsonaro shifted from the “anti-globalist rhetoric” that had become the norm in his addresses to the international community, choosing instead to take a more “conventional approach, centered on statistics and data.”
But, as Mr. Santoro notes, the information conveyed by Brazil’s president was often inaccurate or flat-out untrue.
For instance, he said Brazil is “striding” towards becoming a member of the OECD, a club of rich countries whose membership is seen as a stamp of approval that the nation in question is aligned with the world’s best governance practices.
This is not true. OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said in a recent meeting with Brazilian Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco that he does not believe that the world is convinced about Brazil’s commitment to sustainable development, especially regarding action on climate change.
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