Handout file photo taken on March 17, 2019 and released by the Brazilian Presidency showing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (R), next to ultra-right wing guru Olavo de Carvalho (C) and Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo during a meeting with members of his delegation and right-wing influencers at the Brazil embassy in Washington DC, United States. – The incendiary writer and philosopher Olavo de Carvalho, considered a guru of Bolsonarism and the Brazilian far-right, died at the age of 74 in a hospital in the United States, where he lived, his family said in a statement on January 24, 2021. (Photo by Alan SANTOS / Brazilian Presidency / AFP) / NO USE AFTER FEBRUARY 24, 2022 13:30:00 GMT – RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT ‘AFP PHOTO / BRAZILIAN PRESIDENCY – ALAN SANTOS’
Brazilian writer Olavo de Carvalho, Bolsonaro right wing , dead at 74
Olavo de Carvalho, a writer and philosopher who was considered a guru to President Jair Bolsonaro and others in Brazil’s far right, has died at age 74, his family said Tuesday.
Handout file photo taken on March 17, 2019 and released by the Brazilian Presidency showing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (R), next to ultra-right wing guru Olavo de Carvalho (C) and Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo during a meeting with members of his delegation and right-wing influencers at the Brazil embassy in Washington DC, United States. – The incendiary writer and philosopher Olavo de Carvalho, considered a guru of Bolsonarism and the Brazilian far-right, died at the age of 74 in a hospital in the United States, where he lived, his family said in a statement on January 24, 2021. (Photo by Alan SANTOS / Brazilian Presidency / AFP) / NO USE AFTER FEBRUARY 24, 2022 13:30:00 GMT – RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT ‘AFP PHOTO / BRAZILIAN PRESIDENCY – ALAN SANTOS’
De Carvalho died Monday night in the US state of Virginia, where he had lived since 2005. The cause of death was not given but the writer had dealt with several health issues over the past year and on January 16 he announced he had tested positive for Covid-19.
De Carvalho was known for fiery conservative rhetoric that made him a hero to the far right in Brazil.
He had millions of followers on social media and gave paid online lectures that were a cocktail of philosophy and politics.
“SKEPTICAL”
The fierce anti-communist was, like Bolsonaro, skeptical of the danger of the coronavirus.
The writer was highly influential around the time Bolsonaro came to power in 2018. Several of the people that Bolsonaro named as cabinet ministers had been suggested by de Carvalho.
But in recent times he distanced himself from the president and has said Bolsonaro’s drive for re-election this year is “a lost cause.”
Bolsonaro remembered him fondly anyway, calling him “one of the greatest thinkers in the history of our country.”
“Olavo was a giant in the fight for freedom and a beacon for millions of Brazilians,” the president tweeted.
Steve Bannon, a leader of the so-called alt-right in the United States and former adviser to ex-president Donald Trump, once called de Carvalho one of the world’s greatest living intellectuals.
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