Bolsonaro appoints military men to investigate dictatorship abuses

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday appointed two members of the armed forces to a commission investigating deaths and disappearances during the brutal 1964-81 military dictatorship.

The far-right leader is an unapologetic admirer of the dictatorship, under which he served as an artillery officer, and has caused outrage by branding it a "glorious" time in Brazilian history.

The move comes two days after he questioned the credibility of a report published by the National Truth Commission investigating abuses committed by the dictatorship.

Retired Colonel Weslei Antonio Maretti and army officer Vital Lima Santos will now sit on the seven-member Special Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances, which is under the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights.

Bolsonaro also appointed two legislators from his Social Liberal Party (PSL) to the commission.

"The reason is that the president has changed; now it's Jair Bolsonaro, from the right," the president said.

The women, family and human rights ministry said the changes were aimed at "accelerating" the process by which the families of the disappeared will get "answers regarding the whereabouts of their loved ones."
On Tuesday, Bolsonaro said the debate about the 2014 report by the truth commission, set up by leftist former president Dilma Rousseff, was "hot air."