Brasil set for an era of internal tensions

The first challenges for the President and his first measures announced an era of heavy social tensions in a country left much polarized after the elections.

The new President of Brasil, the far right Jair Bolsonaro, has been sworn in on 1 Januray, with a cabinet of 22 ministers, 5 of which military generals and just 2 women.

One of Bolsonaro first decision was to give the Ministry of Agriculture the power to limit the numerous indigenous reservations. This ministry is directed by a representative of the powerful and dynamic Brazilian agricultural and exporter industry, and now has the power to redefine geographical limits of rich territories, also natural reservations, where the indigenous populations of this South American giant live.

Even though the indigenous population of the country (Brasil has a total population of 220 millions) is proportionally little, these communities maintain their cultures, traditional ways of life and a respectful relation with the environment well alive.

The decision of the new President, thus, has already alerted the environmentalist movements as well as the indigenous populations themselves that are fighting to keep their territories and their original way of life against the voracity of a monoculture agriculture destined to be exported.

On 5 January, the President announced the translation of 400 police to the north eastern region of Ceará, that for various days has witnessed a wave of fire attacks against buses and official centres.

Over 40 actions in 13 cities of this region have succeeded in affecting trade and part of the passenger transport. In the capital of this region, Fortaleza city where 2 million peoples live, just one third of the transport is working and only under guard.

Even though is not clear what produced this wave of violence, local media point out that it could be the response of the narcosis to the declared intention of the Region Governor, the opposition Party of Workers, Camino Santanta, to go after the criminal gangs led by drug dealers in prisons.

At the same time, the President, has urged the judges and administrators - to pass a law that would give police immunity if they cause any death while on active service. The announcement was made in twitter.

In addition Bolsonaro announced his intention to publish a decree, this month, to liberalize arms sale and possession.

Citizens insecurity, together with corruption, are the two main concerns for the people, in particular among Bolsonaro's supporters.

Experts and analysts declare that the "iron fist" measures taken or announced by the President would actually have no much practical consequences. On the contrary they could provoke an increase in violence.

Brasil is the country in the world where most violent deaths occur: 64,000 people in 2018. 5,000 of these are caused by police and very rarely the perpetrators are brought to justice.

The first challenges for the President and his first measures announced an era of heavy social tensions in a country left much polarized after the elections.