A son of Jair Bolsonaro caused outrage by questioning democracy in Brazil

[Inkriql]

A son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro caused shock when he questioned democracy in the largest country in Latin America, which in 1985 emerged from a two-decade dictatorship.

"The transformation that Brazil wants is not going to happen at the speed we want in a democratic way," tweeted Carlos Bolsonaro, a close advisor to his father and councilor from Rio de Janeiro.

Bolsonaro, 36, did not explain what he meant by "transformation," but his father's ruling party struggled to implement economic and social changes, as he had to form alliances to get a majority in Congress.

Former President Dilma Rousseff, a former rebel who was imprisoned and tortured during the military government, condemned the tweet.

"Only those who fought for democracy have gone through exile, torture and imprisonment, they know that democracy is the only possible regime to promote change and make a country like Brazil move forward," he said.

Felipe Santa Cruz, head of the bar association, also expressed disapproval.

"No attack on democracy can be accepted, nor can authoritarian impulses be normalized," said Santa Cruz, whose father was killed by state agents during the dictatorship, according to a commission appointed by the government.

On Tuesday, the Brazilian bar association participated in a panel on the dictatorship of the country at the United Nations in Geneva. José Carlos Dias, a former member of the National Truth Commission of Brazil, denounced what he described as an insidious authoritarianism in Brazil.

Jair Bolsonaro, an ultra-right politician who was elected last year after the corruption scandals of previous leftist governments, mocks the insinuations that Brazil becomes less free under his mandate.

But he has also spoken positively about the Brazilian military government, in which hundreds of extrajudicial killings and disappearances were recorded.

Last week he praised the 1973 military coup in Chile after Michelle Bachelet, head of human rights at the UN, expressed concern over the murders at the hands of the Brazilian police and the alleged restrictions on civil liberties.

Another of the president's three children, national legislator Eduardo Bolsonaro, caused outrage last year when he said it would be easy to close the Brazilian Supreme Court.

"You don't even have to send a jeep. Just send a soldier and a corporal," the lawmaker told federal police recruits in a video that circulated on social media.

Carlos Bolsonaro tried to explain his comment when he tweeted Tuesday that "democratically, things don't change quickly. It's a fact."

He also hinted that the outrage was exaggerated: "Am I a dictator now?" He asked.

The president feels weakness for Carlos, who managed the social networks during his presidential campaign. In December, Bolsonaro Sr. congratulated him on his birthday by saying: "My pit bull, thanks for always being there."