Brazilian politicians avoid Carnival as they become targets

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — At Rio’s annual Carnival celebration Monday night, comedian and composer Marcelo Adnet stood atop a float for the Sao Clemente samba school dressed in a sequin suit imitating Brazil’s far-right president.

He mimicked Jair Bolsonaro’s signature finger-gun gesture while dancers surrounded him holding picket signs making fun of some of the president’s quotes, including his accusation that actor and activist Leonardo DiCaprio was responsible for the Amazon fires in 2019.

The previous night, the Mangueira samba school also took a jab at Bolsonaro, for his advocacy for looser gun laws. Part of the lyrics of their samba song rang out, “No messiah with a gun in his hands” — a reference to Bolsonaro’s middle name, Messias.

But Bolsonaro himself was nowhere to be seen at the country’s most famous party. Instead, he was posting videos of him at the beach and sharing some of the few positive tributes party-goers were making to him on social media.

Likewise, other politicians once more passed on the opportunity to see and be seen in Rio's parade, ending a tradition that had lasted decades with important revelers from both the political left and the right.

While the Carnival parade used to be a chance for Brazilian politicians to bask in the reflected glory of the celebration, today they often find themselves at the center of samba schools’ criticisms and so are avoiding Brazil's largest cultural show.

“Carnival is becoming more and more critical,” said Igor Capanema, a participant in the parade Monday night. “The schools are going more in a direction for us to make these important criticisms about what we are living, where we are living, why we’re living this and who we’re talking about.”

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