Brazil: Bolsonaros and Preachers’ Dirty War | Election disputes also occur in evangelical churches

From Brasilia

Anointed by Christ. With 41 days to go before an election that will decide the fate of Brazilian democracy Michel BolsonaroPresident’s wife Jair BolsonaroEmphasis on horses Religious speech to intensity. Or to put it bluntly, incendiary. She was the “most important” person in the campaign, said her husband (with some exaggeration), who met five decades ago this weekend with players at the Aguilar’s Negras academy and converted in Rio de Janeiro. He greeted hundreds of motorists on the Sao Paulo highway, despite the cold.

Michel, who is running for re-election on October 2, and the president were the only speakers at the Maracanacino Stadium, next to Rio’s Maracana Stadium, at the start of a very unpopular campaign in the eyes of the running mate. General Walter Sosa Braga Neto.

The first lady also spoke at the juís de fora, where then-candidate Bolsonaro was stabbed four years ago, a month before the election. She energetically declared that thanks to her husband’s miraculous survival of a stab wound in 2018, she had been chosen by “God” to defeat the “demon” in the form of Workers’ Party (PT) opposition candidate Luiz Inacio Lula Silva.

According to a recent survey by the Datafolha agency published last week, Lula has 47 percent of voting intentions, compared to 32 percent for Bolsonaro, aiming for elections. October 2nd. PT’s chances of a first-round victory have dwindled, but in the event of a runoff on October 30, his victory seems indisputable: he will be elected with 54 percent, compared to 37 for his opponent.

Religious activity

Now, in Evangelical Sect Bolsonaro, the October 2 favorite, has 59 percent to Lula’s 32.

Those 27 advantages are the reason why Michelle emerged as the new star in official functions and was attacked by thousands. Shepherds Whose sermons spread false news, promises to close down temples if PT wins.

“It’s going to happen here like it’s happening in communist countries,” a woman worries about her church closing.

One of the voices singing this story is Pastor Damares AlvesA former minister of the family and a lieutenant of sorts to the First Lady.

Alves, who accuses PT governments of encouraging the use of crack in schools, is considered one of Brazil’s spearheads of North American Zionist propaganda.

“Pharisees”

Lula made a full entrance last Saturday in his first major campaign event in Sao Paulo Preachers dirty war In a bid to re-elect former Army Capt.

“I, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, defend the secular state, the state has no religion. All churches must be protected by the state, but churches do not need a party, churches must take. Care about the faith, not the nominations of false prophets and Pharisees who deceive the people.”

According to reports in the PT, efforts to recapture evangelicals will be redoubled, as some of them are not unconditional supporters of the far-right and have already cast their votes in Lula’s successful campaigns in 2002 and 2006.

A former metallurgist wearing a black shirt to beat the São Paulo cold might have suggested taking the political fight inside the temples.

“If we go to church we should not be afraid to talk about politics, if the pastor is serious we respect him, but if he is lying, no. You cannot lie in the name of God Neither here nor anywhere in the world”.

Attached to these sayings of their leader, The PT notified the High Election Tribunal Channels were created on social networks targeting Protestant voters, which is contemplated in the law.

Christening

Michel Bolsonaro was born in 1982, the beginning of a decade that marked the end of dictatorship and the beginning of the transition to democracy. Military security guard. Many people don’t even remember the eighties evangelistic event To this day, in the country with the largest number of Catholics in the world.

Before meeting Congressman Bolsonaro, where he worked as a secretary, Michael was already an evangelist. Thanks to his influence and the influence of others, the ex-military man (who never stopped being Catholic) approached the movement, until he was baptized in the waters of the Jordan River in 2016 by Pastor Everaldo Pereira.

The Pan American Dream

In the 90s, young Michael de Paula Firmo began reaching out to pastors and electronic bishop Edir Macedo pocketed the first millions for his media businesses. USAID is an American agency It strengthened its strategy in favor of evangelicalism and changes in the “voting” behavior of Brazilians, wrote Lawrence Harrison, a former member of the organization.

Harrison’s “Pan-American dream”—and that of USAID and the CIA—began to gain ground with business logic and Protestant pragmatism: “Prosperity Theology” He set foot in the favelas and popular neighborhoods in the 1980s, countering the backlash of left-wing Catholic “liberation theology” from which the PT was born.

While Protestant churches represented less than 5% of the population in the 1970s, they were close to 10% in the late 1980s, rising to 22% in 2010.

Since the government suspended the census in 2020, there are no official figures, but some public opinion firms estimate that 28 percent are on the voter rolls.

All in all, this confessional current has undeniable electoral significance and legislative weight. Bible benchIdeological influence was exerted through about a hundred representatives and its television and radio networks, of which Bishop Macedo’s Grupo Record stood out.

Michael or Mi-Sec

In 2018, Bolsonaro’s wife did not want to participate in the campaign due to shyness. But the embarrassment caused by the cameras was somewhat overcome by the end-of-year news on radio and television and interventions in formal events at Planaldo Palace.

His plain speaking in official demonstrations was the product of some coach hired by Bolsonarianism’s billionaire publicity team, which at the time had the American’s advice. Steve BannonFormer campaign manager Donald Trump.

As Michael became more prominent in the campaign and his voice weight increased in the family “clan” of which the president’s children are a part, more details began to emerge about his ambitions for power.

For example, about how he exerted his influence to get Pastor Andre Mendonca elected as the first evangelist to the Federal Supreme Court.

Regardless of the outcome of the referendum, which is set for 41 days, the first lady has already gained a foothold in the far-right political field with a run of popularity that will allow her to be elected senator for Brasilia.

Of course, this capital has its contract. If Michel was not previously a priority target of the opposition or the press, he is now a character who is.

Perhaps this indicates the possibility of them re-emerging in the campaign, Two checks Published by Fabrizio Queiroz, a retired police officer linked to Rio de Janeiro’s “militants” who worked for Deputy Bolsonaro for years

That relationship overcast Bolsonarism with “militants” is always remembered in the PT, especially the federal deputy Paulo Pimenta, who wants to replace the name Michel with the nickname “Mi-Sec”.