Donald Trump has congratulated the newly elected President of Brazil, far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro.
And he promised the United States will "work closely" with Brazil on "trade, military and everything else."
Bolsonaro, who once said he would rather his son was dead than gay last night became President of the world's fourth-largest democracy, riding a wave of frustration over corruption and crime that brought a dramatic swing to the right.
The new President, branded "the world's most repulsive politician", once told a congresswoman she was ugly and said: "I wouldn't rape you because you're not worthy of it."
And the populist - who has also implied that black people are 'lazy' - was earlier this year charged with inciting hatred by Brazil's attorney general.
Human Rights Watch last night described the 63-year-old retired army officer as "a pro-torture, openly bigoted member of Congress".
The man dubbed 'Trump of the tropics' has also indicated that he would let Brazilians buy more weapons to fight crime and allow large scale development in the Amazon jungle.
Writing on Twitter , President Trump said: "Had a very good conversation with the newly elected President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who won his race by a substantial margin.
"We agreed that Brazil and the United States will work closely together on Trade, Military and everything else! Excellent call, wished him congrats!"
Bolsonaro is the latest in a long line of 'hardman' politicians endorsed by Trump since he took office.
As well as embracing North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, and repeatedly praising Russian President Vladimir Putin , he's spoken fondly of Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Phillipines.
Duterte has presided over a brutal ‘war on drugs’ in the Philippines, which resulted in so many thousands of police executions that funeral directors have complained they were overworked.
And he has urged members of the public to murder drug addicts, who he has said he would be “happy to slaughter” in their millions.
In 2016, he expressed regret for calling Barack Obama a “son of a whore”. He had previously used the same insult to describe Pope Francis and local Bishops.
He’s boasted of having two wives and two girlfriends.
And in 1989, when he was mayor of Davao City, he publicly joked about an Australian woman who was raped and killed during a riot at the city's prison, where she worked.
He told the crowd: “I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first”.
Bolsonaro's rise has been propelled by rejection of the leftist PT that ran Brazil for 13 of the last 15 years and was ousted two years ago in the midst of a deep recession and political graft scandal.
Laura Chinchilla, the former president of Costa Rica who is head of the Organization of American States' Electoral Observation Mission, said the vote had been calm and orderly across the country, which has suffered a spate of partisan violence during the campaign.
Many Brazilians are concerned that Bolsonaro, an admirer of Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship and a defender of its use of torture on leftist opponents, will trample on human rights, curtail civil liberties and muzzle freedom of speech.
The 63-year-old seven-term congressman, who served as an army captain, has vowed to crack down on crime in Brazil's cities and farm belt by granting police more autonomy to shoot at criminals.
He also wants to let more Brazilians buy weapons to fight crime.