On 01/01/2019, Brazil a country of 210 million citizens, entered the beginning of a new era with the government of President Jair Messias Bolsonaro. During his inauguration speech, the Brazilian president stated that “socialism is over in Brazil.” He was referring to the 13 years in power of the Labor Party whose leader Lula is in jail for corruption charges. This party regime not only damaged the Brazilian economy all long the last years, but took away the hope of Brazilians for a recouping country.
The vast destructive consequences of the so called Brazilian socialism delayed the country’s progress and prosperity in the social and economic areas. In the public security sphere, for example, the most important Brazilian cities, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo became vulnerable to drug dealers and criminal’s actions. Mr. Bolsonaro will have to work hard to face the several problems that these three areas face today.
In the social area, Brazil faces a big challenge today: the unemployment of 14 million people. Thus, the country’s economic growth is below the expectations. The new Brazilian president will have to promote policies in order to favour the social and economic development. One of these policies is to solve the problem of the wealth concentration in the hands of 3 million people.
On the one hand, the richest people are even richer than before. And in the other hand, the Brazilian middle class is shrinking year by year. This was a result of years of bad socialist policies adopted by the previous governments that only benefit the politicians and business men which had special connections with the politicians in power. A developing country that intends to become a developed nation must solve these issues.
Brazil is a country with 11 surrounding neighbours. Therefore, the new Brazilian government has a lot of opportunities to increase its foreign trade with these countries and, above all, with developed nations, such as the United States.
In the public security area, Mr. Bolsonaro will give priority to the combat of mafias and criminals who control the drugs trafficking in Brazil, especially criminal gangs who have power in the favelas in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Mr. Bolsonaro represents a hope for millions of Brazilian citizens who voted for him. In the beginning of his political campaign, he had 21 million followers on the social media. And was not linked to any political party. Nobody believed that he could be elected.
His time as a presidential elected in the Brazilian life has come to stay. He represents a turning point in the Brazilian political life and hope for the 210 million Brazilians waiting for change.
Ana Silva, a Brazilian student
Brazil starts a new era
