Brasília

President Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) refrained from talking about Social Security reform in a live social media broadcast on Thursday (4) and instead defended child labor by using his personal experience.

"Look, working nine, ten years old at the farm, I was not harmed at all. When a nine-year-old, ten-year-old goes to work somewhere, it's full of people there. Now, when I'm smoking a crack pipe, nobody says anything," commented the president in a tone of "confession."

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro. REUTERS/Adriano Machado ORG XMIT: GGGAHM02 - REUTERS

Although he defended the work of children, he said that he would not introduce such a law because he didn't want to be "massacred."

"But I want to say that I, my older brother, a sister of mine, a little younger, at that age, eight, nine, ten, twelve years, worked on the farm.

Although he spoke about work at various times in the broadcast that lasted almost 40 minutes, the president did not comment at any time on the vote on the pension reform.

The reform is a priority for its government and is under discussion in the Chamber.

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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