The president of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, became an honorary citizen of Anguillara (Padua). The city council approved the resolution conferring the recognition, promoted by the mayor Alessandra Buoso, thanks to the favorable vote of 9 majority councilors and despite the exit from the classroom of one of the 4 opposition councilors present and the contrary vote of the others 3.
“In 2018, research was conducted on its origins – said Mayor Buoso – and it was found that they founded in Anguillara. Thus began a process aimed at making the president reach the esteem for him and the invitation to come among us ».
There are those who say, but there is no confirmation, that after participating in the G20 in Rome on 30 and 31 October, Bolsonaro could reach Anguillara on 1 November.
The announcement that the Municipality would give citizenship to the president of Brazil sparked controversy in recent days to which the mayor Alessandra Buoso replied, noting that the proposal “starts from a long way off, citizenship is in fact conferred on the president as delegate of a people, democratically elected by his people which he now represents, but symbolically is conferred on an entire nation, Brazil ”.
Reactions also from the Diocese of Padua which criticizes the granting of citizenship with a note that speaks of “embarrassment”. “The link between the Venetian land and, specifically Padua, with Brazil is very strong due to the great migratory history, for the relations maintained with the natives, and for the diocesan missionary presence and various religious families who live their service in that country. – the note reads – We cannot forget, in particular, the testimonies paid with the blood of the Comboni Father Ezechiele Ramin and of the fidei donum Don Ruggero Ruvoletto, and not even the personal and ecclesial harmony and friendship with the bishops of Brazil. in recent months they are loudly denouncing violence, abuse, the exploitation of religion, environmental devastation and the worsening of a serious health, economic, ethical, social and political crisis, intensified by the pandemic. In the face of all this – continues the note – the Church of Padua, speaking of a widespread feeling and by virtue of the bond that unites Brazil with our land, takes the opportunity of the possible passage to Anguillara Veneta of President Bolsonaro, to earnestly ask him to promote policies that respect justice, health, the environment, especially to support the poor ».
For the regional secretary of the Democratic Party Alessandro Bisato it is a “useless outrage and out of time limit” that points to public recognition of a “misogynist politician, allergic to democracy and civil rights, denier on Covid and declared antivax”.
The PD regional councilor Andrea Zanoni, accusing Bolsonaro of being a “climate denier”, had sent “the guys from Friday For Future, Extintion Rebellion and all the associations fighting against the exploitation of the planet such as WWF, Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd to protest the decision of the Municipality of Anguillara Veneta. It would be a shame, not a boast for our region ».
Libera Veneto also unleashed the decision “We learn with bewilderment the news concerning the will of the Municipality of Anguillara Veneta to confer honorary citizenship on Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil by virtue of the ties of his ancestors (great-great-grandfather) with the Paduan town”. The leaders of the association declared. “We recall – continues the note – how the political action of President Bolsonaro is characterized by a multiplicity of acts deemed contrary to human and environmental rights, implementing a genocidal policy against the population (contempt and offenses against women and homosexuals, has perpetrated actions of deforestation and violations against the indigenous peoples who live in the Amazon areas, the grotesque accusations against NGOs for the fires that devastated the Amazon) so much so that, in 2021, the International Criminal Court of The Hague opened a proceeding, in the phase of preliminary investigations, against the President for the hypothesis of instigation to genocide. By virtue of these circumstances, we believe the granting of this honor is a slap in the face of the memory of the many victims of this political action ”.