President Jair Bolsonaro (no party) extolled the five military presidents that Brazil had from 1964 to 1985 and classified the military dictatorship, a period marked by violations of democracy and human rights, as a regime "not too different from what we have today" .
Bolsonaro made the statements on Thursday (11) at a ceremony to hand over title deeds to farmers in Alcântara, Maranhão, a municipality that houses the Alcântara Launch Center, the base for launching rockets of the Brazilian Air Force.
In his speech, the president highlighted the Alcântara Launch Center, opened in 1983, as one of the main works carried out in the country during the military dictatorship.
The regime cited by Bolsonaro had a structure dedicated to torture, deaths and disappearance.
The repression figures are not very precise, since the dictatorship never recognized these episodes. Military justice audits received 6,016 reports of torture. Estimates made later point to 20,000 cases.
Prisoners reported having been hung on macaw sticks, subjected to electric shocks, strangulation, drowning attempts, blows with blows, punches, kicks and other assaults. In some cases, the torture session led to death.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon