WASHINGTON – National Security Adviser John Bolton fully embraced Brazil’s newly elected far-right president on Thursday, calling Jair Bolsonaro’s win a “positive” sign for the future of Latin America and dubbing him a “like-minded” leader the Trump administration could work with.

Bolsonaro has said he supports dictatorship and torture, and he has used harsh rhetoric in talking about homosexuals, women, and minorities. Human-rights advocates and other critics have lamented Bolsonaro’s victory in Brazil’s election on Sunday, fearing he will undermine democracy and civil rights. A former army captain and current congressman, the Brazilian politician will take over as president in January.

In a speech outlining the Trump administration’s policy toward Latin America, Bolton made no references to Bolsonaro’s incendiary comments or policy positions. Instead, he said the Trump administration looked forward to partnering with him and another newly-elected, right-leaning politician in the region, Ivan Duque of Colombia.

“The recent elections of like-minded leaders in key countries, including Ivan Duque in Colombia, and last weekend Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, are positive signs for the future of the region, and demonstrate a growing regional commitment to free-market principles, and open, transparent, and accountable governance,” Bolton said.

Bolton delivered the speech in Miami at the Freedom Tower, a symbolic building in the heart of downtown Miami where tens of thousands of Cuban refugees were first processed as exiles escaping Castro’s Cuba in the 1960s.

Bolton made his remarks just days before the midterm elections. Florida's Latino voters could be pivotal in a bevy of competitive races in the state, including House, Senate, and gubernatorial contests.

While praising Brazil and Columbia's incoming leaders, Bolton had harsh words for three other Latin American countries – Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua – labeling them a "troika of tyranny."

He blasted Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel as a brutal dictator who has jailed and tortured opponents. "In Venezuela and Nicaragua," Bolton added, "desperate autocratic leaders, hell-bent on maintaining their grip on power, have joined their Cuban counterparts in the same oppressive behavior of unjust imprisonment, torture, and murder."

Critics blasted Bolton's speech. Ned Price, a former CIA analyst and Obama administration adviser, said in a tweet that Bolton's praise of the incoming Brazilian president put the U.S. "on the side of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and an aspiring autocrat."

Bolton also used his speech to unveil new sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela.

He said the State Department added two dozen Cuban military and intelligence entities to its sanctions list on Thursday. The White House unveiled new penalties targeting Venezuela’s gold industry Thursday. And Bolton suggested that sanctions against Nicaragua could be announced soon.

“The troika of tyranny in this Hemisphere – Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua – has finally met its match,” Bolton declared in his remarks. The "troika" label contained echoes of President George W. Bush’s “axis of evil” remark, which he used to describe Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"I am here to deliver a clear message from the President of the United States on our policy toward these three regimes," Bolton said. "The troika will crumble."

Contributing: Alan Gomez and Kim Hjelmgaard

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