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Top samba "schools" in Brazil's Carnival capital Rio de Janeiro paraded for a second night on Monday, peppering the annual sizzling fusion of music, dance and costume with jabs at the country's president, Jair Bolsonaro.
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The last six of the city's 13 top samba schools took to the "sambodromo", or Sambadrome, with hundreds of colorfully dressed and some scantily clad dancers and musicians parading behind huge, elaborate floats designed around a broad theme.
Monday's parades, which ran well into the early hours of Tuesday, touched on many themes, among them Bolsonaro, who has cut a controversial and divisive figure since being sworn into office in January last year.
Brazilian actor and comedian Marcelo Adnet starred in the Sao Clemente school's parade dressed up as Bolsonaro, mockingly doing push ups, saluting, and firing an imaginary gun with his fingers, all of which the ex-army captain has done in public during his presidency.
The Sao Clemente float also displayed placards with the words "It's OK?!", a popular Bolsonaro phrase, and "It was Leonardo di Caprio", a reference to Bolsonaro blaming the Hollywood actor for the Amazon rainforest fires last year.
Since Bolsonaro took office in January 2019, Brazilians have been sharply divided, with supporters crediting him for a rapid drop in violent crime and an improving economy, while critics have denounced his racism, sexism and stance on the environment.
On Sunday the famed Mangueira samba school took aim at the national rise in right-wing religious fervor and surge in police violence, in Rio in particular, in Bolsonaro's first 14 months.
Mangueira's song includRead More – Source
