Brazil: a black Jesus ignites the Rio carnival

In the Brazil of Jair Bolsonaro so divided, the carnival of Rio de Janeiro does not escape the controversy. At the heart of a new confrontation is the samba school of Mangueira, one of the oldest and most popular in Rio. With an accusation reviving the debate between faith and freedom of expression: his parade on the life of Christ would be blasphemous.

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Last year, Mangueira won the title of carnival champion with a very political tribute to a murdered black elected official. A few weeks after the populist Jair Bolsonaro came to the presidency, the samba school had enthusiastic audiences and jurors. For the 2020 edition, the school returns with an even more sensitive theme in Brazil, which remains the first Catholic country in the world. The powerful and wealthy Evangelical Churches are also gaining ground everywhere, from poor neighborhoods in big cities to the most remote areas of the Amazon. These, who campaigned for Jair Bolsonaro, amplified the conservative shift

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