, Columnist
Bolsonaro Celebrates a Coup Brazilians Want to Forget
The country’s military has moved on to better things—like safeguarding its institutional legitimacy.
Brazil’s military treads more carefully these days.
Photographer: AFP/Getty Images
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Ever since Jair Bolsonaro won the Brazilian presidency, speculation has swirled around what makes the choleric retired army captain run. No longer: It’s mothballs.
This week, Bolsonaro instructed the nation’s armed forces – to whom he still swoons, though he left their ranks for politics 30 years ago – to commemorate March 31. That’s the date, in 1964, when the military deposed an elected president, seized power and held on for the next 21 years.