Brazil’s far-right president-elect, Jair Bolsonaro, has reaffirmed his defence of his country’s brutal 21-year dictatorship and rejected claims that he is a fascist, instead painting himself as a Churchillian patriot determined to lead his crisis-stricken country “out of this quagmire”.
In one of his first television interviews since being elected on Sunday with nearly 58mn votes, the former paratrooper, who is notorious for his inflammatory rhetoric, did little to suggest he would temper his discourse after taking power on January 1.
Bolsonaro told TV Band, one of Brazil’s major channels, it was his left-wing detractors who were fascists, not him.
“They always accuse others of being what they are themselves,” he said. “It’s these left-wing people, who always put themselves above the rest, who are fascists.”
The veteran politician, who paints himself as a political outsider, also refused to say he regretted saying the military regime that ruled Brazil from 1964 until 1985 should have killed 30,000 people. In a now infamous 1999 television interview Bolsonaro also said: “You’ll never change anything in this country through voting. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” 
Justifying those comments yesterday, he said: “If you’re at a football match and you shout out a swear word you might be in the wrong but you’re caught up in the atmosphere of the moment.” 
Bolsonaro, who has expressed admiration for dictators including Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, claimed many Brazilians now believed Brazil’s military regime “wasn’t a dictatorship as the left has always preached”.
He said the media had unjustly described Cuba’s former leader, Fidel Castro, as a president while calling Joao Figueiredo, who ruled Brazil during the final years of its dictatorship, a dictator.
Hundreds of regime opponents were killed or disappeared during Brazil’s 21-year dictatorship while thousands more were tortured.
Bolsonaro’s numerous critics are appalled that a man with his track record of promoting torture and offending women, black, gay and indigenous people will soon be their leader. Left-wing opponents have vowed to resist what they call his threat to democracy.
In his television interview Bolsonaro – who recently threatened to exile or jail “red outlaws” – said he expected “fierce” opposition but would not seek “to crush” such dissent.