Since being elected, the Brazilian far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has positioned evangelical fundamentalists in key positions within his government. He has supported a foreign policy that aims to construct a conservative Christian alliance of sorts – with the United States’ Donald Trump, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Poland’s Law and Justice Party, and others.

In April, Jair Bolsonaro sent his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro (also a federal deputy) to Hungary and Italy, with the aim of strengthening ties with both countries and their respective leaders, Viktor Orbán and Matteo Salvini – who left office months later. The president’s first official visit after being elected was to see Donald Trump in the United States, a visit in which he also had time for a dinner with Steve Bannon, a strategist of the global far right whose plan for an alliance between leaders and parties from this ideological spectrum fits the ambitions of the Brazilian president.

After a visit to Chile with President Sebastián Piñera, a conservative figure dealing with social unrest in his own country, Bolsonaro had an embarrassing visit in Israel, where he and his chancellor, Ernesto Araújo, declared that Nazism would be a left-wing ideology.

These first visits denote Bolsonaro’s attempt to build a network between nations with conservative governments and allegedly founded on Christianity. The inclusion of Israel is part of the logic of evangelical fundamentalism because they believe this state is strategic to the fate of Christians and the world.

Full article at Sojourner’s website. Date of publication: 02/01/2020.