[imagesource: Silvia Izquierdo / AP]

In 2018, as he geared up to run for the Brazilian presidency, Jair Bolsonaro was dubbed ‘the Trump of the Tropics’.

He won and is in with a decent shot at reelection ahead of Brazil’s October election. Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is slightly ahead in the polls but his lead has narrowed.

The list of Bolsonaro’s failings is too long to run through in full (Brazil has in excess of 645 000 COVID-19 deaths for a start), and his strongman rhetoric has actually backfired when it comes to fighting crime.

A case in point is the country’s war on drugs. The president has signed multiple decrees promising to crack down on the scourge with little to no success.

VICE is on the case:

This is how Brazil’s deadly drug wars have been fuelled by a president who thinks the solution is to throw more guns at the problem.

Who would have thought, hey?

After watching the video below I suddenly feel inclined to watch City of God again.

[source:vice]