Since his “retirement” in Florida, the former president takes hours to refer to the riots in Brasilia, avoids an express condemnation and encourages “peaceful demonstrations” as “part of democracy”
“Peaceful demonstrations, within the law, are part of democracy. However, vandalism and invasions of public buildings such as those that occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, are beyond the rule. With these words, former President Jair Bolsonaro this morning summed up his position on the violent takeover of Brazilian institutions by thousands of his most extremist followers. He has done it without any haste, hours after the incidents began. Bolsonaro’s lukewarm response, broadcast on his social networks from Florida, where he has been since December 30, contrasts with the harsh reaction of the governments of Latin America and other countries, such as the United States, whose president, Joe Biden, has described the riots as “outrageous” and condemned the “assault on democracy in Brazil.”
When the whole world looked towards the far-right ex-president in search of his reaction to the serious episode experienced by the powers of his country, he has not disappointed. At least, to his traditional supporters. Bolsonaro has limited himself to condemning the “looting and invasions of public buildings”, but not the root of this excessive episode of violence that most of the political and social arc describes as an attempted coup d’état. In this first message, his main criticism has been directed at his electoral rival and current head of government, Luiz Inácio da Silva, who has accused his predecessor of “stimulating” acts such as those suffered by Congress, the Presidential Palace and the Court Supreme in Brasilia. Bolsonaro affirms that these accusations are “unfounded” and recalls that during his term “I was always within the four lines of the Constitution and defending the laws, democracy, transparency and our sacred freedom.”
The man who exclaimed in September 2021 that “only God removes me from power” continues to reject his defeat at the polls two months after losing the presidential elections on October 30. Similar to his last message, lukewarmness has been a constant in his few statements during these two months of political transition. For example, he urged the lifting of the roadblocks organized by his supporters immediately after his defeat (they have since demanded a military intervention against the fledgling left-wing Executive of Lula da Silva), but encouraged them to take their protests to other places under the conviction that “demonstrations are welcome” and “are part of the democratic game”. As he has done today.
The international media, and especially the American ones, highlighted on Monday the similarities between the behavior of Jair Bolsonaro and former US President Donald Trump. The two obsessed with denying his loss in the elections. The two determined that they have been evicted from power through fraud. The two taking hours to ask their followers for an end to the violence and riots. Because it also underlines the similarity between the serious riots in Brasilia and the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in order to thwart the presidential appointment of Joe Biden. Possibly, the most paradoxical of all is that the two ex-presidents representing the most radical right were also in Florida today. The former captain of the Brazilian Army traveled there on December 30 to avoid, as his admired Trump had already done, retired to his Mar-a-Lago mansion, the protocol that forced him to be present at the inauguration of Lula da Silva .
With his followers in Orlando
Apparently, Bolsonaro is staying at the home of a well-known former mixed martial arts fighter, José Aldo da Silva, recently retired from the professional MMA circuit. He is one of the many experts in this discipline who have been showing his support for the far-right leader during his past term. Some information assures that the former Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres, is also in Florida, on whom an arrest warrant from the Brazilian Attorney General’s Office weighs since last night for his alleged responsibility in organizing the assault on institutional headquarters . Torres was Secretary of Security in the Federal District of Brasilia.
All these coincidences have fueled the rumors about the possibility that Bolsonaro traveled to Florida, on a Brazilian air force plane, not only with the intention of avoiding the imposition of the presidential sash on Lula da Silva, but also to avoid any legal action. that could stand against him once devoid of immunity as head of the nation. A hypothesis that has become very real in the case of his reference, Donald Trump, subjected to various judicial investigations and by the United States Congress itself. Only in relation to the pandemic (the coronavirus has killed almost 700,000 people in Brazil), a Senate commission considers that Bolsonaro and 65 other senior officials, including four ministers, could be accused of “crimes against humanity”, “violation of sanitary measures” and seven other crimes for his denial and management of the epidemic. The former president has also been linked to some investigation into corruption.
The last time he visited Florida was in 2020 and then he did stay at the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago club. This time he has not made statements or revealed his activity beyond what he or some witnesses have posted on social networks. He has been seen in the company of his followers in Orlando. He also went shopping in a supermarket, eating fried chicken in a fast food restaurant and taking selfies with the people who stopped him on the street. He is accompanied on this trip by his wife, Michelle, and is expected to be joined by his two children, if they have not already landed in Florida. So far, Bolsonaro has not said when he will return to Brazil or if he plans to do so one day. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said last night in Washington: “The United States must stop granting Bolsonaro refuge in Florida. In reality, Bolsonaro does not have refugee status in the United States. For this reason, now more than ever, the words that the former Brazilian president pronounced when he said that only the Most High will remove him from power seem to resonate prophetically. “There are three options for me: jail, death or victory.”
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