Bolsonaro Softens Rhetoric in Key Independence Day Rallies

  • Bolsonaro played up image of God-fearing, anti-graft leader
  • He needs to win over undecided voters to close gap with Lula

Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's president, speaks after an Independence Day military parade in Brasilia on Sept. 7

Photographer: Arthur Menescal/Bloomberg
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President Jair Bolsonaro toned down his rhetoric during Brazil’s Independence Day celebrations, seeking to woo undecided voters and reinvigorate his campaign less than a month before general elections.

Government faithful packed the oceanside drag along Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach on Wednesday as well as Brasilia’s esplanade of ministries, a large thoroughfare that connects the presidential palace, congress and the top court with the rest of the capital.