Brazilian Conservative ideologue Olavo de Carvalho, who was President Jair Bolsonaro's political guru, died on Monday night at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States, his family said on his social media accounts. He was 74.
The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported that he was diagnosed with COVID-19 on January 15, citing a group of his followers on social media.
Carvalho was a self-promoted philosopher, author and anti-Communist political pundit who believed George Soros, Facebook and China are all part of a globalist conspiracy.
He moved to the United States in 2005 after the leftist Workers Party won the presidency, and he gave online philosophy classes to his followers in Brazil, championing individual rights and Christianity.
Carvalho questioned global warming, played down the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic and, like Bolsonaro, was a vaccine-skeptic, which got him into trouble with social media platforms for spreading fake news. PayPal blocked his account used to received donation from followers and payment for his courses.
His combative attacks on "cultural Marxism" and the growth of the state made him an icon of the Conservative movement that swept Bolsonaro to power in 2018.
"Olavo was a giant in the fight for freedom and a beacon for millions of Brazilians," Bolsonaro posted on Twitter, calling him "one of the greatest thinkers in our country's history."
In recent months, as Bolsonaro made concessions to traditional centrist politicians to block impeachment attempts, Carvalho became critical of his follower, saying he had failed in the fight against Communism.
A pinned tweet on Carvalho's social media account encapsulated his political views: "Capitalism is the godfather and protector of communism. The war is not between capitalism and communism, it is between CHRISTIANITY and communism."
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
