Bolsonaro’s rocky first weeks

New president’s sweeping changes haven’t happened

Brazilian president’s short time in office has been filled with missteps and communication gaffes.

SAO PAULO — A few days after being inaugurated, new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced a tax increase, only to have his chief of staff say hours later that the boss “had been wrong.”

The former army captain also said he would be open to putting a U.S. base in his country, but military leaders quickly squashed the idea.

And the day after the nascent administration announced plans to abolish a land-reform program, officials said it would remain intact.

The far-right leader’s first two weeks on the job have been filled with missteps and communication gaffes and little of his promised sweeping changes — underscoring a steep learning curve for a president elected on promises to overhaul much of daily life in Latin America’s largest nation.

“He has never been in the executive, his party is totally new to high offices and few members of his cabinet have experience,” said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. “It seems they are paralyzed by how complex Brazil’s state is and also by internal disagreements.” New Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro raises both arms after his swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 1 in Brasilia.

Bolsonaro ran on a platform that mixed pro-gun, anti-corruption and marketfriendly ideas. Despite having two months after his October election to prepare for his Jan. 1 debut, the administration has not hit the ground running.

The lack of a cohesive plan is raising questions about Bolsonaro’s commitment and ability to deliver on promises ranging from a major overhaul of the pension system to moving Brazil’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“We saw all that polarization in the elections, but now that Bolsonaro is in Brasilia it looks like business as usual,” said Denis Carvalho, a

34-year-old Sao Paulo architect who voted for rival Fernando Haddad.

Joao Felisbino, a

64-year-old doorman, said Bolsonaro just needs time.

“Brazil has been a mess for years. You can’t solve all the problems in a month,” he said, adding that Bolsonaro should not be judged until he has been in office a year.

Bolsonaro issued several executive orders on his first day, including a plan to cease awarding any new land to indigenous groups, a campaign promise.

But in the days that followed, little happened and Bolsonaro shifted back to attacking the media and his adversaries.

“There is no end to the media lies that come 24 hours a day,” he declared on Twitter.

Last Tuesday, two weeks after being inaugurated, Bolsonaro issued a decree loosening gun laws, fulfilling a signature campaign promise.

As expected, opponents of the measure criticized Bolsonaro for changing the law to allow almost anybody over 25 years old without a criminal record to be able to get a gun. But even many hard-core supporters joined in the criticism, angry that the measure didn’t go far enough. Stocks of gun manufacturer Taurus, which had steadily gone up in recent months on expectations of major changes, fell 22 percent.

Bolsonaro and his allies insist they are on a good path and that big changes are coming “soon.”

Still, there are more questions than answers about many of his signature pledges, and Bolsonaro is getting a crash course in the

“We saw all that polarization in the elections, but now that Bolsonaro is in Brasilia it looks like business as usual.” Denis Carvalho, Sao Paulo architect who voted for rival Fernando Haddad.

magnification of gaffes that come from high office.

That happened on his third day on the job during a military event in the capital of Brasilia.

Bolsonaro told journalists he had signed a decree to raise a tax on many common banking transactions. The move quickly brought a public outcry that it broke a campaign promise of no new taxes.

Hours later, the head of Brazil’s tax agency said the president was wrong, as did Bolsonaro’s chief of staff. Paulo Guedes, the economy minister, was reportedly infuriated, though he did not comment publicly. In the end, there was no new tax.

Another flip-flop came Jan. 8, when the administration said it was freezing a redistribution program that gave underutilized state and private land to the poor. The next day, however, it was announced that the program would continue.

After the bank transfer gaffe, Bolsonaro has mostly avoided economic issues since being inaugurated. During the campaign, he often said he didn’t understand the economy and instead deferred to Guedes, a University of Chicago graduate who has advocated steep budget cuts and widespread privatizations.

Bolsonaro’s administration appears paralyzed on moving Brazil’s embassy in Israel, a promise that thrilled evangelical voters.

Despite claims by Bolsonaro that the decision “has been made,” Minister Carlos Alberto Santos Cruz, who coordinates the administration with politicians and business leaders, told the BBC that the idea was “completely impractical.”

“We have an important commercial relationship with the Arab world,” Vice President Hamilton Mourao told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper.

ANDRE PENNER/AP