Jair Bolsonaro

Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1991 to 2019.

He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 1991, representing first the Progressive Party (PP) and then the Social Liberal Party (PSL) since 2018 in the state of Rio de Janeiro. He was the congressman who gained the most votes in the general election of the state of Rio de Janeiro in 2014. A controversial figure in Brazil, he has been known to advocate for far-right and populist political views.

He strongly advocates against the legalization of same-sex unions and same-sex marriage, whilst expressing statements that some people consider insulting, such as homophobic and violence-inciting, misogynistic and sexist, or racist and anti-refugee remarks. He advocates against affirmative action or quotas for any group, as well as against the decriminalization of drugs. Other controversial political stances expressed by Bolsonaro have been of the defence of the death penalty and of radical interventionism in Brazil by the military, along with an implantation of a Brazilian military government.

Bolsonaro was stabbed in the stomach on 6 September 2018 while campaigning and interacting with supporters in the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais. The perforation reached parts of the liver, lung, and intestine. He lost a large amount of blood, arriving at hospital with severe hypotension (his blood pressure was 10/3, equivalent to 100/30 mmHg), but his condition stabilized.

In the runoff of the 2022 general election, Bolsonaro lost to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. On 8 January 2023, his supporters stormed federal government buildings, calling for a coup d'état.