Brazil’s Bolsonaro Completes a U.S. Sweep of South America
Other than Venezuela — and only for as long as Maduro holds on — the continent is now U.S.-friendly.
Yankee come back.
Photographer: Victor Moriyama/Getty Images
A decade ago, when I was commander of U.S. Southern Command with responsibility for all military engagement south of the U.S., I visited Brazil often. I always came away with an appreciation for the warmth of the people, the vast natural resources, the power and depth of the Amazon River, and the rich and complex culture of a nation that always seems to deliver an unexpected move. As Brazil’s recent election approached, I could almost feel the ground shifting across South and Central America, and sensed we were in for a swerve.
As of Sunday, Brazil moved sharply, almost unthinkably, to the right. With the leading leftist candidate, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, on ice for a dozen years serving a jail sentence for corruption, a former Brazilian Army officer, Jair Bolsonaro, won a strong victory.