Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro declared “war” on government oil company Petrobras during a live broadcast online on Thursday evening over what he called “absurd” profits that were tantamount to the “rape” of the Brazilian people.
Petrobras is a mostly government-owned oil company with some private shareholders. Out of respect for the latter, Bolsonaro, a conservative, said he would not directly intervene to lower gasoline prices, but warned that Brazil would “break” as a country if the company did not lower prices and accept slightly lower profit margins in the interest of the greater good.
English-language outlets covering Bolsonaro’s comments noted that he is running for reelection this year against socialist ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva this year, who used his power to force Petrobras to lower prices (and was convicted on charges related to…
