(Anguillara Veneta) Le président brésilien Jair Bolsonaro a reçu lundi à Anguillara Veneta, près de Venise dans le nord-est de l’Italie, la citoyenneté d’honneur de cette commune de 4000 habitants dont ses ancêtres sont originaires, au milieu des protestations des opposants et partisans de cet hommage.
La cérémonie a eu lieu dans une élégante villa du XVIIe siècle située dans les environs, où M. Bolsonaro a longuement déjeuné en compagnie de quelque 200 invités.
« Je suis ému d’être ici. Je crois que cela se voit. C’est d’ici que partirent mes grands-parents. Cela me plaît d’être entouré de gens bien », a déclaré M. Bolsonaro, cité par l’agence AGI. « Dieu a voulu que je devienne président du Brésil […] we are doing an excellent job which is certainly recognized by the people, but not by the mass media ”.
At the end of the 19e century, overwhelmed by poverty, a thousand inhabitants of Anguillara Veneta, whose ancestors of Mr. Bolsonaro, had emigrated to Brazil.
In the morning, around 200 people demonstrated against the attribution of this honorary title to the Brazilian far-right president, the object of much criticism on the international scene both for his environmental policy and for his positions on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meeting with Salvini
“It is right that he visits the city where his family comes from, but not that he is presented as a model to follow by granting him honorary citizenship”, estimated with AFP Antonio Spada, a municipal councilor of this municipality led by the League, the sovereignist anti-migrant party of Matteo Salvini which also controls the Veneto region.
On a large sign, the demonstrators had written “Dehors Bolsonaro”. On a banner was written by hand: “Anguillara loves Brazil, but not Bolsonaro”.
Supporters of Bolsonaro had also made the trip: “I am here to tell him that he is not alone”, told AFP Silvana Kowalsky, an elegant 50-year-old woman, who came especially from Vicenza, in 85 km, to express his support. These supporters, armed with Brazilian flags, were less numerous.
In nearby Padua, police used water cannons to push back a few hundred anti-Bolsonaro protesters near the famous Basilica of St. Anthony, which the Brazilian president visited in the early evening after it was closed in public.
Since Bolsonaro came to power in 2019, deforestation and fires in the Amazon have exploded, as his government demands to be paid to protect the Amazon rainforest, 60% of which is in Brazil and whose maintenance is crucial for curb global warming.
He also decided to ignore the COP26 climate conference to go to Anguillara Veneta.
Mr. Bolsonaro, accused by a commission of inquiry of the Brazilian Senate of having “deliberately exposed” his compatriots to “mass contamination” by his denial of the seriousness of the health crisis, is to meet Matteo Salvini on Tuesday in Tuscany.