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RIO DE JANEIRO – If the knife had cut Jair Bolsonaro's abdomen a little more, the evangelical preacher who came to see him in the hospital should have prepared a eulogy on his friend's presidential hopes, annihilated by the same scourge of violence stunning elevation.
Instead, when he saw Mr. Bolsonaro in intensive care last month, the preacher Silas Malafaia, extremely popular in Brazil, saw fit to make a joke.
"Look what God has done!", Recalls Mr. Malafaia, who confided to the candidate who was stunned after undergoing numerous procedures to suture his intestinal tract and other organs. "You have been stabbed and now all the other candidates complain about all the television coverage you receive."
Prior to last month's knife attack, Mr. Bolsonaro had already begun to look like an indomitable phenomenon in Brazilian politics, campaigning in tantrums against corruption and violence, which corresponded to a large extent to the national mood.
But far from obstructing his rise, Bolsonaro was crystallized by the deadly force that cost him the assurance that he alone could turn around a country that suffers from many years of economic turmoil, corruption scandals and a wave of corruption. record blood, said the pastor.
"I think it gave him a greater sense of purpose," said Malafaia. "He said," More than ever, my willingness to help these people, to save our country, has increased. "
Mr Bolsonaro, the far-right populist who defends He won Sunday's final election to become Brazil's next president, breaking with the norms and political parties that have governed Brazil since the end of military rule more than 30 years ago.
"The elections will not change anything in this country," he said in one of his seven congressional terms. "Unfortunately, this will only change the day we start a civil war and do the work the military regime did not do, killing 30,000 people. If innocents die, that's fine. In each war, innocent people die. I will even be happy if I die up to 30,000 people. "
Far from disqualifying him, his inflammatory remarks over the years and throughout the campaign made Mr. Bolsonaro attractive to millions of Brazilians. Many see the potential for disruption and status quo that led to President Trump's victory in 2016.
On Sunday, Bolsonaro said in his victory speech that his government would respect the constitution and democratic principles.
While his rivals were conducting conventional campaigns, 63-year-old Bolsonaro channeled the anger and frustration of many Brazilians in the face of rising crime and unemployment – issues that they see as increasingly ruling class corrupted by the endemic who is helpless.
Bolsonaro's career began with a relatively short paratrooper jump in the military that ended in controversy, paving the way for his first electoral victory in 1988.
Mr. Bolsonaro was fascinated by the idea of joining the armed forces in the early 1970s when soldiers descended on an area near Campinas, his hometown of the state of São Paulo, in search of a a leader of the communist guerrillas.
Mr. Bolsonaro, whose candidacy was forcefully supported by the army, has since taken the credit of guiding the soldiers that day to a mountainous area he knew well. It was one of many manhunts of this type during the military dictatorship that lasted from 1964 to 1985.
A graduate of a military academy in 1977, Mr. Bolsonaro studied physical education and was promoted to the rank of captain in an artillery unit.
But his uniformed uniform came to an end just as democracy was restored. In an act of insubordination, Mr. Bolsonaro published an essay in the Veja news magazine in 1986 titled "Wages are Low", in which he put his superiors to the challenge of their military pay.
"I risk seeing my dedicated soldier career threatened," said Bolsonaro. wrote in the piece. Despite his patriotism and excellent service, Bolsonaro added, "I can not dream of meeting the basic needs that a person of my cultural and social level should aspire to."
He was briefly imprisoned after the publication of the article and was promptly investigated following a more serious allegation: he was part of a plan to use explosives in military bases in order to put pressure on the government officials so that they pay more soldiers. Mr. Bolsonaro denied having participated in such a plot, which has not been completed.
But, again, instead of ruining his prospects, controversy has made him a popular hero in military circles. Mr. Bolsonaro drew his attention to a successful run of the Rio de Janeiro City Council in 1988. Then, in 1990, he presented himself at a congressional seat and was won with energetic support from supporters of the # 39; army.
Mr. Bolsonaro became a polarizing figure shortly after his arrival in Brasilia in the early 1990s, when newly elected leaders of the country were slowly rebuilding their democratic institutions.
"I am in favor of a dictatorship," thundered Mr. Bolsonaro. "We will never solve serious national problems with this irresponsible democracy."
He said people across the country longed for the return of the army. "They ask," When are you coming back? "
Mr. Bolsonaro was very visible and often presented himself as legislator in Brasilia. But it has not been prolific to pass laws. And it was not considered a factor of consensus in a very split Congress.
Two of the 12 bills and amendments that he introduced in 27 years in Congress were passed. The legislation that he has defended has shown that he was passionate about the support of the police and armed forces and by social issues such as abortion and gay rights, to which he s & # 39; 39 is strongly opposed.
In 2011, he told Playboy magazine that he "would rather his son dies in a car accident" rather than being gay.
"If a gay couple came to live in my building, my property would lose its value," he added. "If they walk around holding hands while kissing, it will lose value!" Nobody says that for fear of being pinned as a homophobe. "
Chico Alencar, a member of Congress following Bolsonaro's career since the two MPs became legislators at the same time in Rio de Janeiro, said Bolsonaro was seen as a special case that was of interest to him. zeal to a handful of questions, including communism and homosexuality.
"I have never seen him participate in debates about the electricity grid, the environment, education, health, urban mobility, housing," said Alencar, a member of the liberal party Socialism and Liberty. "It is mono-thematic. Everything concerns a communist threat. He has not left the cold war era yet.
Mr. Alencar recalled that Mr. Bolsonaro targeted in 2011 educational materials aimed at raising awareness of homophobia and denounced them as an incentive to encourage children to become sexually active and to question their gender identity.
"He is obsessed with the problem of homosexuality," said Alencar. "Whenever there was a public hearing on gay rights, he went there and became extremely upset."
Mr. Bolsonaro's conservative view of issues such as gay rights and abortion has seduced him into the Evangelical Caucus of Brazil, which has grown steadily in recent years.
But he was especially known for his tantrums, especially in 2003, after filming a colleague left, Maria do Rosário Nunes, after telling him she was not worthy of rape.
Now, Ms. Nunes, a former human rights minister, has expressed concern that Mr. Bolsonaro – who has threatened to ban political opponents and allow the police to kill suspected criminals – is a ruthless leader.
"He is unable to produce a consensus, an agreement," she said. "There is no dialogue with him."
In early 2013, Mr. Bolsonaro began to entrust to a handful of friends that he had presidential ambitions.
"Dude, you're crazy," recalls Malafaia, who said Bolsonaro told him the news just moments before the pastor had officiated at Bolsonaro's third wedding in March 2013. " I did not believe it.
Mr. Malafaia said that Mr. Bolsonaro had told him that he wanted to fight "leftist criminals", referring to the Workers Party, which was in power at the time.
In the following months, as hundreds of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets to protest poor public services and corruption, Bolsonaro launched the idea of a trusted colleague in Congress. .
"Why do not you target the Senate?" Alberto Fraga, a Congressman who knew Mr. Bolsonaro since his debut at the military academy, has been reminded to have answered with amazement.
Mr. Fraga said that Mr. Bolsonaro had acknowledged that he was facing long difficulties.
"Look, if I reach 10%, I would be very satisfied," said Fraga.
In 2014, after Mr. Bolsonaro was re-elected to Congress with 464,000 votes, almost four times more than in 2010, he began touring the country, organizing rallies and posing as a disrupter of politics. , as usual.
Breaking with the political notebook of the presidential candidates, Mr. Bolsonaro often used cursed words at unwritten addresses. The hand pistol signs have become ubiquitous wherever he went – an allusion to the candidate's drastic proposals to reduce violent crime by making it easier for police to shoot suspected criminals. Soon, supporters began to call it "mito" or legend.
The fans started using yellow T-shirts with the slogan "Brazil is my party", which resemble football jerseys that Brazilians wore in the past as a symbol of pride and national unity.
Many senior politicians and analysts expected Bolsonaro's candidacy to be muffled as voters took a closer look at his long history of inflammatory rhetoric against women and people of color.
Joice Hasselmann, elected to the Congress this month by linking her candidacy to that of Mr Bolsonaro, said Joice Hasselmann, elected to Congress this month.
"Jair has no filter," Ms. Hasselmann said. "There is a direct link between what he thinks and what he says."
After stabbing, Mr. Bolsonaro remained largely confined in a hospital room and later in his house in Rio, at the edge of the beach. He did little in-depth interviews and refused to take part in the debates.
But in the almost daily videos that he has aired on Facebook, where he has over eight million subscribers, Mr. Bolsonaro, often accompanied by one of his sons, resists, jumping out of the room. one number to another, often alternating between agitation and sarcasm.
During a recent visit, he raised his shirt to show his colostomy bag and a large scar.
As he ascended the polls, former Brazilian politicians were astonished at how a campaign strategy that seemed so risky had defended him. Mr. Malafaia said that it was because he looked disordered and improvised from the outside.
"Listen, I'm going to say something and you can laugh," said Mr. Malafaia, adding that Mr. Bolsonaro and his campaign "had no real strategy".
