Gabriel Medina set to pump fist as ol’ pal Jair Bolsonaro’s boy Flávio looks to win Brazil presidency

Fast times in Latin America.

The Rip Curl Pro Portugal has just ended, though I wouldn’t know because I am boycotting the World Surf League due the utter contempt it holds for its viewing audience and broader surf culture. It is a thoroughly rotten organization that should be left out in the rain like a cardboard box before being stuffed in a recycling bin and forgotten about.

Gabriel Medina, anyhow, seems to have just lost to Griffin Colapinto in the final frame. It could be guessed that he is sad, being the first loser and all, but the astute would know that bigger things are certainly occupying the three-time champion’s thoughts.

Namely, the presidential election set to go down in his home country Brazil, this Sunday, that will see the son of Medina’s former video chat pal, Jair Bolsonaro, go against the man who undid him four-ish years ago, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro was a lightning rod right-leaning strongman who, after losing the election, was convicted of plotting a coup and sentenced to 27-odd years in prison.

Now, the boy Fávio, will take on Silva and the polls have it dead locked.

Medina and his guy pal Neymar Jr., who made waves with a public embrace of the elder Bolsonaro, and must be thrilled at a possible return to the glory years. The younger Bolsonaro, for his part, has promised to throw eight year sentences at cell phone thieves and build many new prisons due inspiration from El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, the self-styled “coolest dictator in the world” and “Philosopher King,” who has locked up 1 out of every 80 of his citizens.

The World Surf League’s Surf City El Salvador Pro is the fifth stop on the Championship Tour