Renan Santos, the presidential candidate of the Missão (Mission) party, said on Wednesday, August 26, that Brazil should develop nuclear weapons and proposed earmarking R$ 6 billion for prison construction. He spoke in a televised interview with TV Globo anchors Renata Vasconcellos and César Tralli at the network's studios in Rio de Janeiro. Through Saturday (29), Globo is interviewing the six candidates best placed in the August 14 Quaest poll, in a special aired for the first time after the Jornal Nacional newscast rather than during it.
Atomic bomb
Asked about earlier statements in which he defended an atomic bomb for the country, Santos stood by his position. "If Brazil wants to be one of the five biggest nations in the world, one that sits at the table with the United States, India, Russia and China, it will need sovereignty, sovereignty over its own territory, military sovereignty, and it will have to discuss having atomic bombs," he said, according to G1. The candidate said he needs no scientific study to sustain the thesis. "The most powerful nations in the world have nuclear weapons and they make themselves respected because of it," he said. He also defended Brazil's withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and cited North Korea, the only country to leave the pact. "As much as it is a regime I consider oppressive and that I do not respect, at least it is respected internationally. It is a way of defending its own sovereignty," he said.
"If we want to be the world's eternal Zé Carioca [...], we accept our submissive position. But if we want to be a serious, respected nation in the next 30 years, we need nuclear weapons."
Zé Carioca, the Disney parrot, is shorthand in Brazil for a carefree, party-loving image of the country. Santos acknowledged that Brazil could not produce nuclear weapons in the next ten years and spoke of building them "in the medium and long term," according to Folha de S.Paulo. He denied the proposal would strain relations with the United States and said it would be up to Washington to sit down and negotiate. The measure, though, collides with Brazilian law: the country has been a Non-Proliferation Treaty signatory since 1998, and the Constitution states that all nuclear activity on national territory "will only be admitted for peaceful purposes," Folha noted.
Prisons and organized crime
On public safety, the candidate proposed investing R$ 6 billion in building prisons and defended a "regime of exception" in the favelas, according to G1. He repeated his promise to retake, within one year in office, every territory controlled by criminal factions. "Today almost 40 million Brazilians live directly or indirectly under the influence of crime," he said. Santos also wants to change the prison execution law to treat faction members as an "anomalous entity." Asked about the failed federal intervention in Rio de Janeiro, which cost R$ 1.2 billion and ended with organized crime stronger, he answered that the country lives a "war declared unilaterally" and defended a "declaration of war against organized crime," Folha reported. He cites the security model of El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, as inspiration.
In the interview, Santos repeated that he would disobey rulings of the Supreme Court (STF) that he considers illegal. "Any citizen, faced with an illegal decision, can refuse to comply. In fact, he has a duty not to comply. An illegal decision is not to be complied with," he said. He denied, however, that he would disrespect all of the court's decisions, according to InfoMoney. On the economy, he promised a new pension reform. "I am not an electoral con man like other candidates who will come here and say it is not necessary. We will need to do another pension reform," he said.
The Globo interview series continues on Thursday (27) with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), a senator and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, is Friday's guest (28), and Augusto Cury (Avante) closes the series on Saturday (29). Romeu Zema (Novo) and Ronaldo Caiado (PSD) were interviewed on Monday and Tuesday.