Neo-Nazi groups multiply in a more conservative Brazil

By Steven Grattan
June 13, 20237:56 AM CDTUpdated 9 hours ago

ITAJAI, Brazil, June 13 (Reuters) - Last November, just hours before a social gathering for Haitian immigrants in the town of Itajai in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, event organizer Andrea Muller received a chilling message.

"Cancel the Haiti exhibition or we will commit a massacre," read the subject line of the email, seen by Reuters. "Santa Catarina is a land of WHITE PEOPLE, FOR WHITE PEOPLE," the anonymous sender wrote, signing off with the Nazi salute "SIEG HEIL."

Ultimately, the event went ahead without any problems and with police present. Yet the email, which police in Santa Catarina are still investigating, is indicative of a small but rising number of cases of neo-Nazism in Brazil that have increased as far-right politics flourished during former President Jair Bolsonaro's 2019-2023 term.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, was widely criticized for his long-standing defense of Brazil's military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, his anti-democratic attacks on the country's voting system in last year's election and policies that critics say endangered the country's indigenous peoples.

More:
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/neo-nazi-groups-multiply-more-conservative-brazil-2023-06-13/