Brazil on Fire Episode 5: Ghosts of the Past

NACLA Radio

Brazil’s military dictatorship was a dark time in the country’s history. Hundreds were killed. Thousands jailed and tortured. And it is an era that President Jair Bolsonaro remembers with nostalgia. It's the place where he got his start and something he has long championed as being worthy of returning to.

As president, Bolsonaro has called for the closure of Congress and the Supreme Court, marched with supporters to demand military intervention, and appointed more military officials to his government than any leader since the end of the dictatorship.

In this episode, we dive headfirst into Brazil’s military regime that ran the country from 1964 through to 1985. We’ll look at the country’s failure to reckon with the past and Bolsonaro’s steps to push Brazil back in that direction.

This is Brazil on Fire. A podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon.

Featuring host Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.

This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News and NACLA.

Edited by Heather Gies

Sound design by Gustavo Türck https://twitter.com/coletivocatarse

Theme music by Monte Perdido

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5wa

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