Brazil set for change

THE far-right former army captain who looks likely to become Brazil’s next president promised nothing short of a complete overhaul of the nation, vowing to combat corruption by gutting government ministries and privatising state companies. He also pledged to promote traditional values that would roll back the rights of gays and other minorities.

With his pledge of “Brazil above all,” Jair Bolsonaro has catapulted from the fringes of Congress, where he served as a member of marginal parties for 27 years, to a stone’s throw from the presidency.