Washington – In Brazil’s hotly contested presidential election, U.S. President Donald Trump is clearly hoping for a win by right-wing challenger Flavio Bolsonaro, who has pledged to join a wave of conservative Latin American leaders cozying up to Washington.
Yet Trump has also shown an uncanny fondness for incumbent Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, saying that despite turbulent trade relations, he and the veteran leftist, both 80, have “excellent chemistry.”
Victory for Bolsonaro, the son of jailed former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, would represent another major strategic triumph for Trump, who has been accumulating allies in the region through elections or, in the case of Venezuela, by force.
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