Presidential candidate Renan Santos, of the Missão party, defended on Wednesday (26) that Brazil develop nuclear weapons as a guarantee of sovereignty. In the same interview to TV Globo, he played down human rights violations under El Salvador's state of exception, according to Folha de S.Paulo. The session was conducted by Renata Vasconcellos and César Tralli, anchors of Jornal Nacional, the country's leading newscast.
"If Brazil wants to be one of the five greatest 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", the candidate said, according to G1. He acknowledged Brazil could not produce the bomb in the next ten years and spoke of production "in the medium and long term".
Santos said he needs no studies to back the proposal. "I do not need a scientific study to determine that a nation has to have political strength to protect itself from other nations. Reality is very clear: the most powerful nations in the world have nuclear weapons and they make themselves respected because of that", he stated.
The proposal clashes with Brazilian law. The country has been a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty since 1998, and the Constitution states that nuclear activity on national territory "will only be admitted for peaceful purposes". Santos defended leaving the treaty and cited North Korea, the only country to have done so, according to G1. "As much as it is a regime I consider oppressive and do not respect, at least it is respected internationally. It is a way of defending its own sovereignty", he said.
The candidate denied the measure would strain relations with the United States and said it would be up to Washington to sit down and negotiate with Brazil, according to Folha. He compared Brazil's current standing in foreign policy to a "Zé Carioca of the world", a party destination, in a reference to the Disney parrot character tied to Brazil's carefree image. "If we want to be the world's eternal Zé Carioca, we accept our submissive position. Now, if we want to be a serious and respected nation in the next 30 years, we need nuclear weapons", he said.
Public security and the Bukele model
On public security, Santos reaffirmed his promise to retake within one year in office the territories controlled by criminal factions. Asked about the failure of the federal intervention in Rio de Janeiro, which cost R$ 1.2 billion in public funds and ended with organized crime stronger in the state, he said the country lives a "unilateral war" and declared himself in favor of a "declaration of war against organized crime". "Today almost 40 million Brazilians live directly or indirectly under the influence of crime", he said.
The candidate cited as inspiration the security model of El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele. Confronted with the rights violations committed under the Salvadoran state of exception, Santos played them down, according to Folha. According to G1, he also proposes investing R$ 6 billion in building prisons and defends a state of exception in favelas.
The interview was the third in Globo's series with the six candidates best placed in the August 14 Quaest poll, according to G1. Lula (PT) is up on Thursday (27). Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) speaks on Friday (28), and Augusto Cury (Avante) closes the series on Saturday (29). The first round of the election takes place on October 4.