International
Brazil’s Bolsonaro gets in spat with heckler
AFP
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro got into an altercation Thursday with a social media personality who questioned and insulted him, grabbing the man by the shirt and arm after he called the leader a “bum.”
Video of the incident outside the presidential residence shows Bolsonaro clutching the heckler in an apparent attempt to grab his cell phone as the man filmed himself criticizing the far-right leader.
News site G1, which published the video, identified the man as Wilker Leao, a self-described lawyer, army corporal, politics junkie and military enthusiast with 127,000 followers on TikTok.
The incident happened outside the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia as a grinning Bolsonaro, looking casual in an untucked, short-sleeve blue shirt, greeted supporters who crowded around his waiting motorcade to take pictures with him.
Filming with his phone, Leao approached the president and asked why he had entered an alliance with a corruption-stained group of parties known as the “Centrao” and signed legislation restricting plea bargains, often used in anti-graft investigations.
An unidentified person pulled Leao away and threw him to the ground. Undeterred, Leao approached again, calling the president — who had gotten in his car — a “coward,” “bum” and “the Centrao’s sweetheart.”
Bolsonaro then exited the car and appeared to make a grab at Leao’s phone.
“Come here, I want to talk to you,” the president said, first grabbing Leao by the front of his football jersey, then clutching his left arm with both hands.
The president’s security detail then intervened and escorted Leao away.
Several minutes later, Bolsonaro allowed Leao to approach again — a line of bodyguards between them — and spoke briefly with him.
“I have to get things passed in Congress, right?” the president said, before returning to his car and leaving.
Neither Leao nor the president’s office immediately responded to requests for comment.
Bolsonaro, a 67-year-old ex-army captain, is running for reelection in October against leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010).
Leao, who regularly posts videos of himself asking hostile questions of both left- and right-wing supporters, said he was no fan of Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT), either, calling them “bums” too.
International
María Corina Machado kidnapped and forced to record videos before being released, says opposition
The Venezuela Command, the campaign team of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, denounced the “kidnapping” and subsequent release of political leader María Corina Machado after she led a protest in Caracas on the eve of the Venezuelan presidential inauguration.
In a post on X, the opposition team stated that the former lawmaker was “intercepted and knocked off the motorcycle she was traveling on” after leading a rally in the Chacao area of the Venezuelan capital.
“Gunshots were fired during the incident. She was forcibly detained. During her kidnapping, she was forced to record several videos, and then she was released,” the statement added, which was made public nearly two hours after Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, reported that she had been “violently intercepted.”
International
Governor Jenniffer González expresses solidarity with Venezuela’s struggling opposition
Puerto Rico’s Governor Jenniffer González expressed her sorrow over Venezuela’s political crisis on Thursday and voiced her support for Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, just one day before President Nicolás Maduro is set to take office following the controversial July elections.
“I think it is sad that the Venezuelan people have to suffer the consequences of a dictator who came to power by deceiving the people. I recognize Edmundo González for his leadership,” the governor stated during a press conference, coinciding with a day of protests by Venezuela’s opposition.
“The Venezuelan community has my full support, and, as we have done in the past, we will maintain that line of communication with whatever we can collaborate on,” assured the Puerto Rican head of government.
González Urrutia is currently in the Dominican Republic, the last announced stop on his American tour, where he was accompanied by Dominican President Luis Abinader and former Latin American presidents from the Spain and Americas Democratic Initiative (Grupo Idea).
International
Hundreds of venezuelan protesters demand ‘democratic change’ in Rome
Dozens of Venezuelans demonstrated in central Rome on Thursday to show their support for opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia and demand a “democratic change,” on the eve of the presidential inauguration that has deeply divided the country.
The protest took place in the Roman square of Largo Argentina and gathered several members of the Venezuelan diaspora and refugees, who sang their national anthem and displayed signs with the slogan “Glory to the brave people.”
Around 150 participants were present, according to one of the coordinators of the protest, Celeste Puerta from the ‘Aiuto Venezuela’ Civic Movement, who spoke to EFE.
Similar actions have been organized in other Italian cities, including Bologna, Florence, and Milan in the north.
María Corina Machado kidnapped and forced to record videos before being released, says opposition
Governor Jenniffer González expresses solidarity with Venezuela’s struggling opposition
Hundreds of venezuelan protesters demand ‘democratic change’ in Rome
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