Former President Jair Bolsonaro returned to Brazil on Thursdayafter spending three months in the United Statesa country to which he traveled two days before leaving power, in the midst of a strong security scheme set up at the Brasilia airport.
The far-right leader, who faces several investigations in different judicial instanceswill then go to the headquarters of the Liberal Party (PL), where he will be received in a private ceremony by his wife Michelle and by the president of the formation, Valdemar Costa Neto.
Bolsonaro returned to Brazil as an opposition figure likely to challenge the government of the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
(Also: Could former President Jair Bolsonaro be arrested after his return to Brazil?)
The Gol airlines commercial flight from Orlando, which was scheduled to arrive at 7:10 am local time (5:10 am in Colombia), landed 25 minutes earlier.
For security reasons, Bolsonaro left the airport through a restricted areawithout going through the lobby, where journalists and dozens of supporters were waiting, carrying Brazilian flags.
(Also: The extensive operation with which they will shield Brazil for the return of Bolsonaro)
We have been waiting for this moment for a long time, since January 1
A strong security scheme was set up for the arrival of Bolsonaro, due to the mobilizations in recent days on social networks of his followers, in which 500 agents have been deployed to reinforce surveillance from the airport and its surroundings.
The ex-president of the extreme right arrived at the headquarters of the Liberal Party (PL), where publicly announced his return last week. Bolsonaro was received with harangues and hugs by his followers.
The PL gave great publicity on social networks, although it has not officially organized a welcome event.
Images from CNN Brazil showed the ex-president leaving by car, with an important police escort.
Bolsonaro did not go inside the terminal where some 200 followers were waiting for him, many of them carrying the Brazilian flag and singing “The captain returned!”.
“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time, since January 1,” Eva Melgaço, a 46-year-old beauty salon employee, told AFP. Bolsonaro, 68, traveled to the United States on December 30, two days before the inauguration ceremony of Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, whom he never congratulated on his victory, which he considered “unfair.”
This week, anticipated that he intends to “tour Brazil, do politics” and “keep up the banner of conservatism.” The former president nevertheless affirmed that he “is not going to lead any opposition,” in statements to CNN Brazil on Wednesday at the Orlando airport.
The biggest opposition leader of Lula da Silva
(Lula) will now have to govern with an articulated opposition, after months of dispersion. That can make a big difference
As planned in his agenda, Bolsonaro immediately went to the PL headquarters, where he was received by his wife Michelle and the party’s president, Valdemar Costa Neto, for a private meeting according to formation.
Then he will go to his new home, a house in Jardim Botanico, a wealthy neighborhood of the capital fifteen minutes from the Presidential Palace of the Planalto.
(Read: The chronology of the 90 days of former President Jair Bolsonaro in the United States)
The former president (2019-2022) will assume the honorary presidency of the party next week, majority formation in the Chamber of Deputies (99 of 513 deputies) and second force in the Senate.
“The right is coming together more and more,” Bolsonaro said, warning that “there can be no collaboration” with the Lula government.
After a practically “silent” quarter and without “making opposition”, the return could pose a challenge to the presidency of the leftistaccording to Jairo Nicolau, a political scientist at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.
Lula “will now have to govern with an articulated opposition, after months of dispersion. That can make a big difference,” Nicolau said.
In the October elections, the ex-unionist defeated Bolsonaro by a narrow margin (50.9% against 49.1% of the votes). Bolsonaro will earn a monthly salary of 41,600 reais (about $8,000), according to the PL’s communication advisory.
She will work alongside the former first lady, who recently took over the leadership of the Women of the PL group and is promoted as a possible candidate in the future.
INTERNATIONAL WRITINGWith information from AFP and EFE
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