Bolsonaro praised Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile and celebrated the death of Bachelet's father

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday criticized Chilean President and current UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, and hailed the coup of the 1973 military state in that country.

Bachelet "forgets that his country is not Cuba thanks to the courage of those who arrested the left in 1973, including his father," wrote Bolsonaro on his Facebook page.

The father of Bachelet, an air force officer who had opposed General Augusto Pinochet during the coup, was in prison, was tortured and died captive in 1974.

The bloody dictatorship of Pinochet (1973-1990) ushered in a long period of human rights violations and left an official balance of 3,065 dead opponents, including more than a thousand missing detainees, according to a 1991 report from the Truth Commission.

Bolsonaro issued his statements at a time when the UN official expressed concern over the increase in police-related homicide rates in Brazil, as well as allegations by the police. restriction of civil liberties in the South American nation.

In statements made in Geneva, Bachelet condemned the increase in executions by the police "in the middle of a public speech legitimizing summary executions" and the "lack of accountability".

Not to mention the name of the Brazilian president, Bachelet criticized Bolsonaro's claim to celebrate the coup of the 1964 military state in Brazil, as well as the denial of state crimes in the past. Such an attitude has resulted in state agents "sitting above the law and killing without responsibility," he said.

From Chile, President Sebastián Piñera said that Bachelet should base his words on Brazil although he rejected the words that Bolsonaro had addressed to him. "I do not share the allusion made by President Jail Bolsonaro to a former President of Chile and, in particular, to a subject as painful as the death of her father."

On the same Wednesday, Bachelet provided data on killings and violence in Brazil.

In his comments, Bolsonaro stated that Brazil is a democratic nation and that Bachelet's comments represent an interference in local affairs. He compared the intromission of the former president with the one that French President Emmanuel Macron has made recently, when he criticized the way Brazil has managed the fires in the Amazon region and its approach to climate change and the environment.

Bolsonaro, captain of the army, often praised the military regime that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985.

In 2014, the Brazilian truth commission determined that at least 434 people had been killed or had disappeared by the state during the dictatorship. It is estimated that between 30,000 and 50,000 people were illegally arrested and tortured.

In 2016, during the vote on the dismissal of President Dilma Rousseff, victim of torture by the military regime, Bolsonaro dedicated his vote to a colonel in charge of the torture unit. "In memory of Colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, of the terror of Dilma Rousseff, I vote yes," said Bolsonaro.

In Chile, various politicians have expressed their support for Bachelet, who has been elected president twice. Senator Isabel Allende, daughter of President Salvador Allende, overthrown by the 1973 coup, said the French president was right when he said that "the Brazilian people do not deserve the president that 39 he has ".