Bolsonaro speaks for the first time from the US after his electoral defeat in Brazil: "I don't know why I lost"

Former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro speaks during an event at the Trump National Doral Miami resort on February 3, 2023 in Doral, Florida.

(CNN Spanish) ––

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro dedicated his first political speech since leaving office to highlight his achievements as president and criticize socialism.

In Miami, in front of some 400 people at the Power of the People event, organized by Turning Point USA —an organization focused on conservative youth in the United States—, Bolsonaro boasted achievements in his administration such as low inflation and economic opportunities, as well as a better situation in the freedoms of Brazilians.

• Bolsonaro requests a tourist visa to stay in the US.

“Brazil was about to face a moral crisis,” said the former president, referring to the condition in which he took office in 2019 and arguing that his progress is in jeopardy under the new government headed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

"We know that the left seeks equality, but they want equality in poverty," he said.

Questions from moderator Charlie Kirk, president of Turning Point USA, focused on what he calls "the danger of socialism" and what the United States could learn from what happened in Brazil.

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• Brazil senator says Bolsonaro participated in a meeting to nullify the elections and did not discourage the proposed plan

Bolsonaro pointed to Venezuela as an example of the failings in a country that, he said, is rich in natural resources and oil, but whose people live in poverty.

"We realize that the countries that choose the left in Latin America follow the same path to poverty," he said.

At no time did he mention or suggest irregularities in the last elections where he lost to Lula da Silva.

He also did not speak about the assault on the three seats of power in Brasilia by some of his supporters days after the presidential transition.

“I don't know why I lost” (the election), he said, as the audience responded in Portuguese “they stole it,” as he smiled from the podium.

Although Bolsonaro supporters have argued that the now former president lost due to fraud, there is so far no proof that this was the case.

The electoral justice system assured that there were no irregularities and that Bolsonaro lost with the same system with which he had been elected four years earlier.

At the same time, a Federal Supreme Court judge is leading an investigation into the riots on January 8, when hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters invaded Congress, the Presidency and the Federal Supreme Court in Brasilia.

Although the former president criticized the violence in the attacks on government headquarters, the judicial investigation seeks to determine if Bolsonaro had any role in organizing the assault or if his refusal to publicly admit defeat and his messages about alleged fraud at the polls could have contributed thereto.

Bolsonaro left Brazil days before the inauguration of Lula da Silva, on January 1, with which he did not take part in the rite of transmission of power.

Bolsonaro arrived in Florida on December 30 and until the end of January he remained with the visa that the United States grants to heads of state while they hold that position.

Last week, a law firm specializing in immigration reported that on January 27 the former president applied for a tourist visa to stay in the US for six more months.

The Turning Point USA event was held at Trump National Doral Miami, owned by former President Donald Trump.

Jair Bolsonaro Miami