Author: Ernesto Londoño and Manuela Andreoni / Source: New York Times

Brazilian soldiers during preparations for the far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro’s presidential inauguration on Tuesday. Significant changes have already begun in Brazil. Adriano Machado/Reuters
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilians signaled a desire for a radical shift in the country’s course when they elected the far-right lawmaker Jair Bolsonaro as their next president in October.
It didn’t take long for profound changes to start taking hold.
In the weeks leading up to Mr. Bolsonaro’s swearing-in on Tuesday, his embrace of a conservative movement that rejects discussion of gender or sexual orientation in schools thrust classrooms to the front lines of culture wars.
Under his direction, Brazil pulled out of hosting the 2019 United Nations summit meeting on climate change and began backtracking from its role as a global exemplar of environmentally sustainable development.
And on the foreign policy front, Mr. Bolsonaro courted the United States and picked a fight with Cuba, which responded by rescinding a program that had sent Cuban doctors to remote corners of Brazil since 2013.
There is considerable uncertainty about how closely President Bolsonaro will resemble the gruff, indignant and uncompromising candidate who ran as a political outsider and pulled off a long-shot victory by promising to dismantle a culture of corruption and use draconian means to restore security.
But there is no doubt that deep transformations are underway. Here are some examples:
Reeling from violence, a nation braces for more guns

A firing range in São Paulo. Mr. Bolsonaro says he will weaken Brazil’s tough gun regulations.
Days before Mr. Bolsonaro’s inauguration, his son Carlos Bolsonaro, a Rio de Janeiro city councilman,
“I would rather they murder 200,000 thugs,” the future president is seen saying about the police in a clip that is part of the expletive-laden video.
Over the weekend,
The policy would mark a significant departure from Brazil’s onerous rules for gun ownership, and experts said it would probably exacerbate carnage in the country, which last year had a record 63,880 killings. A poll released on Sunday by the research firm Datafolha found that 61 percent of Brazilians were opposed to relaxing gun ownership rules.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s promises to ease weapons regulations have already meant brisk business for gun ranges as aficionados sign up for practice. They also boosted the stock price of Taurus Armas, Brazil’s main gun manufacturer.
Closer to Washington, farther from Cuba
Cuban doctors back in Havana in November after leaving Brazil. Cuba cancelled a program that sent doctors to remote corners of Brazil after Mr. Bolsonaro vowed to end it.
The image captured the high hopes Mr. Bolsonaro and his team have for closer ties with the United States: After Mr. Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo Bolsonaro wrapped up meetings at the White House during a November trip designed to lay the groundwork for a relationship, the president’s son wore a “Trump 2020” campaign hat.
The Trump administration has returned the praise, calling Mr. Bolsonaro a “like-minded” leader on whom Washington hopes to rely as it tries to curb China’s growing influence in the region and put more pressure on Venezuela’s authoritarian government.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will lead the American delegation at Mr. Bolsonaro’s swearing-in ceremony in Brasília.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s first diplomatic fight also happened in November, as Cuba abruptly terminated a program under which the island had been deploying thousands of doctors to remote, impoverished regions in Brazil since 2013. Mr. Bolsonaro had called the program a form of indentured slavery and vowed to…
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