RIO DE JANEIRO – A convoy of black cars approached the Brazilian presidential palace on Thursday afternoon and then, surprisingly, stopped. To the delight of a crowd gathered in the afternoon sun, President Jair Bolsonaro stepped out of one of the cars.
About two dozen selfie-loving people surrounded the president, who smiled and posed for pictures. It was one of those impromptu encounters Bolsonaro was known for during his re-election campaign.
Then the fun vibe broke. A man in the crowd began shouting, demanding answers about one of Bolsonaro’s policies. Mr. Bolsonaro got in the car again.
“I’m here every day, Bolsonaro. I want to see you brave enough to come talk to me,” shouted protester Wilker Leão as he taped himself on his phone. Repeatedly, he hurled an insult at the president that roughly translates to “pork butcher’s little dog,” albeit a bit more vulgar.
Suddenly the president jumped out of the car, grabbed Mr. Leão’s shirt and tried to snatch his phone. “Come here,” Mr. Bolsonaro said, gripping Mr. Leão’s arm as he tried to run away. “I want to tell you.”
It was a startling scene, even by the standards of a president who has rewritten Brazil’s standards for how the leader of Latin America’s largest nation should act. (Think of the vulgar attacks on his opponents, a series of false claims, and his refusal to admit whether he has been vaccinated.) Video of the incident has gone viral. broadcast on the Internet Brazil – a president clashed with a voter just six weeks before a national election.
For the rest of Brazil’s political elite, it’s another example of why Mr Bolsonaro is unfit to serve in the nation’s highest office. On the right, it’s another example of how authentic Mr Bolsonaro is and a man unafraid to face his criticism.
What remains to be seen is the impact of the incident on moderate voters, who will effectively determine the election. Bolsonaro has consistently followed former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in opinion polls, although he has recently gained ground thanks to the improving Brazilian economy. If no one receives a majority of votes in the October 2 election, there will be a vote on October 30.
After Mr. Bolsonaro grabbed Mr. Leão, the presidential security team quickly pushed the man away, as seen in footage recorded by a journalist for the Brazilian news organization G1, as well as by Private video of Mr.. The president’s team then told everyone to stop filming. Journalist G1 continues to shoot. Mr. Bolsonaro took more photos.
Finally, Mr. Leão stepped back, surrounded by the president’s security details.
“Why are you so aggressive?” Mr. Bolsonaro asked.
“Because when I tried to come here, I was forbidden to come in and talk to you,” Mr. Leão replied.
The two men argued about Brazilian politics for about five minutes before Mr Bolsonaro got in his car and left.
Bolsonaro’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
Leão, 26, is a social media personality with nearly 50,000 followers on both YouTube and Instagram. He told The Times that he is also a lawyer and went to the gates of the president’s residence every day for more than 50 days to interrogate the president in front of the camera.
“The main goal was to discuss the mistakes of his government, and his response I found quite absurd,” he said. “He likes to raise the banner of freedom of speech, but where is that freedom for the other side who are questioning him?”
Aside from the eerie sight of the president scuffled with a YouTuber, the insult Leão repeatedly yelled at Mr Bolsonaro has now taken on a life of its own, quickly inspiring memes and songs. parody and even projected onto the face of a building. Critics of Mr. Bolsonaro quickly branded the insulting, at the same time cutthroat, playful and slightly vulgar, as a new label for the polarizing president.
The insult – “tchutchuca do centrão” – posed a particular challenge for foreign reporters trying to translate it for their audience. The translation is especially complicated because both words, “tchutchuca” and “centrão,” are deep Brazilian and have complex origins.
The “Centrão” is a powerful central coalition of political parties that effectively control Congress and has long been criticized for curtailing contingency arrangements to benefit members and campaigners alike. lobby. Translators, linguists and others with extensive knowledge of both Brazilian Portuguese and English say it can be translated as “pork killer”, “political establishment” ” or perhaps “The Great Center”.
“Tchutchuca,” pronounced choo-CHOO-kah, is even more complicated. Supposedly sourced in the native Angolan and Tupi languages, and associated with the words “a bit crazy” and “jumping around”, a version of which eventually became a sort of beloved term in Brazil. .
Then, in 2001, a popular Brazilian funk song gave tchutchuca new life, with the chorus: “Come on, come on, tchutchuca / Come here with your tiger / I’ll throw you up bed.” Over time, tchutchuca meant a submissive woman.
In 2019, the word entered the world of politics when a congressman called Brazil’s Minister of Economy a tchutchuca to the bank.
Translators and linguists say that in the context of Mr. Leão being offended, it can be translated as centrão’s lap dog or errand boy, or as a banner referring to a bitch . The Associated Press addressed “honey.” Tom Phillips, the Guardian’s longtime correspondent in Brazil, refers to it as “the establishment’s chips” or “pork barrel toast”.
Flora Thomson-DeVeaux, an American who has lived in Brazil for more than a decade and who translates books from Portuguese to English, would give him any English translation of the Brazilian left wing’s new nickname for him. Bolsonaro didn’t pick up the odd sound either. and biting, nuanced meaning.
“Tchutchuca is innocent and then has a naughty act. So something like ‘pussycat’ would be appropriate,” she said. “But pussycat is all too common in English, so I was thinking something that almost echoes the sound of ‘tchutchuca’. .’
Her answer? “If it was a novel, I could try translating tchutchuca as a bastard.”
Leonardo Coelho contributed reporting in Rio de Janeiro.
