Nasry Asfura

So just in summary, just to sort of set the scene for our conversation tonight, Brazil's October 4th presidential election produced what to many pundits was a surprising victory for right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who received approximately 47% of the vote compared with Lula, Lula da Silva's 45%.

And because neither candidate secured a majority, the two will face off in an October 25th runoff election.

Bolsonaro's stronger than expected performance reflected dissatisfaction over crime, living costs, and Lula's government, despite Lula's success in really moving the economy in a positive direction for a majority of the population.

And I've been reading about the election also strengthening right-wing legislators, potentially giving Bolsonaro considerable legislative power if he is elected.

So to begin, I guess, Alexander, I would ask you to discuss your view on how and why Brazilian voters apparently favored right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro over Lula da Silva in this first round.

Well, thanks, Scott.

It is a confounding question that I've been asking myself over the last few Latin American elections, where we've seen a pretty consistent trend of very far-right candidates that are very Trump-aligned that have been winning elections against progressives.

We saw this in Honduras, of course, at the end of last year, where Xiomara Castro lost to a Trump-endorsed candidate, Asfura.

Chile's presidential race delivered a victory for José Antonio Kass' right-wing coalition.

Honduran voters chose conservative Nasri Asfura.

Costa Rica elected right-wing populist Laura Fernández Delgado in February.

Peru's June contest produced a narrow win for Kiko Fujimora on the right.

He's also a political consultant and has served as advisor to almost all of the far-right leaders in Latin America.

including Javier Malay in Argentina, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Nasri Asfura in Honduras, and Rodrigo Paz in Bolivia.

He also collaborated very closely with the Trump administration.

The Economist magazine was first to call Saramido, quote, Maga's man in Latin America.

They were both sentenced to long terms in federal prison.

Donald Trump sends, uh, F- Cerimeedo into Honduras to start, uh, an election campaign to bring the National Party back into power under, uh, not 40, uh, under, under, um, Tito Asfura.

But in order to legitimize the National Party, first Donald Trump pardons Juan Orlando Hernandez-

[laughs]