Jair Bolsonaro called Brilhante Ustra, renowned Brazilian repressor, national hero

"A national hero who prevented Brazil from falling into what the left wants today"The right-wing president told reporters after receiving María Joseíta Silva Brilhante Ustra, widow of the military officer who ran the internal defense operations center of the detachment of operations and '' information (DOI-CODI) in São Paulo, one of the largest centers of repression of the dictatorship.

"He has a huge heart (Maria Joseíta). I am in love with her. I did not have a lot of contacts, but I had it with her husband when he was alive"explained the former captain of the army and current president.

Brilhante Ustra, who died in 2015 from a cancer victim, testified before the National Truth Commission, which investigated crimes that might have been committed during the dictatorship. "excesses like in any war"But he has never been tortured and said that all he had done was follow the orders he had received from his superiors to fight communism.

He had also been sentenced in 2008 for torturing a journalist in 1971, but the proceedings had been initiated by a Brazilian court, which had ruled that the victim's case against the family took place two decades after the 1988 Constitution, which recognized the amnesty. crimes committed during the military regime.

Bolsonaro had already publicly extolled the figure of Brilhante Ustra during the political trial that led to the dismissal of the former president. Dilma Rousseff, in 2016, due to irregularities in the management of budgets.

The president, who was then a federal MP, said that he had voted in the colonel's memory, which he described as "The fear of Rousseff"The former president in his youth was arrested and He was tortured at the center where the army commanded.

Already as President of Brazil, Bolsonaro had sparked controversy on July 30, when he had questioned the official truth about the disappearance and death under the dictatorship of militant Fernando Santa Cruz, father of the country. current president of the Bar Association. from Brazil, Felipe Santa Cruz.