Brazil’s Bolsonaro in Veneto, Italy, to receive honorary local citizenship

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The ceremony, initially scheduled to take place at the City Hall, was relocated to a 17th century residence on the outskirts, where the President was scheduled to have lunch with some 200 guests, among them relatives and city councilors.

The arrival of the President mobilized both left-wing militants and anti-fascist organizations, opposed to his far-right policies, as well as a sector of the Brazilian community living in Italy.

Under a persistent drizzle and fog, representatives of several leftist parties, as well as of the CGIL trade union and ANPI anti-fascist organization peacefully protested downtown with banners and posters against the honoring of the controversial South American leader.

“That he should visit the city where his family comes from is fair, but not that he should be presented as a role model by granting him honorary citizenship,” lamented opposition city councilor Antonio Spada.

The government of Anguillara Veneta, a town of 4,000 inhabitants in the Veneto region, a stronghold of the far-right Liga, mobilized police and security services to prevent clashes.

“Out Bolsonaro, out Bolsonaro,” read a large banner, while another handwritten one read “Anguillara loves Brazil, but not Bolsonaro.”

Among the most outraged protesters was Italian missionary Massimo Ramundo, who lived 20 years in Brazil, 12 of them in Maranhão, a northeastern Brazilian state part of the dense Amazon region.

“It’s shameful. I am furious with the Mayor of this city. She does not know what Bolsonaro has done and said, she has not heard his racist statements, against indigenous people, vaccinated people, women. He also wants the Amazon to be a business. He does not respect the values of Pope Francis,” lamented the man.

Organized in the town where his family emigrated from over a century ago, the demonstration was also attended by groups supporting the President, mostly Brazilians who live in several regions of the peninsula.

“I am here to say that he is not alone,” assured Silvana Kowalsky, an elegant 50-year-old lady who traveled from Vicenza, some 85 kilometers away, to lend her support.

Wearing hats and draped in Brazilian flags, the President’s supporters chanted songs and proclaimed him “Legend,” while shouting slogans against “Lula the thief,” referring to ex-president Inázio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro’s potential main rival in the 2022 elections.

“He is a great President and he has the right because he is a descendant of Italians. Everything the (Senate) committee says about him are lies,” said Brazilian Claudio Resende, 65, who has lived in Italy for 17 years.