Bolsonaro turns Brazil’s bicentennial into campaign rally

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s President Jair bolsonaro has transformed the nation’s bicentennial into a multi-city campaign event, amid concerns from critics he would use his appearances to undermine the upcoming election. Bolsonaro trails former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in polls before the Oct. 2 vote, and the incumbent drew tens of thousands of staunch supporters for rallies in Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. The armed forces put on military displays in the first two cities. Bolsonaro compared da Silva to autocratic leftist leaders in Venezuela and Nicaragua and called Brazil’s former president “a gangster.”