Jair Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil, during an event in Miami last week. Eva Marie Uzcategui (Bloomberg)
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said this Saturday in Florida (United States) that he intends to return to his country "in the coming weeks."
The comment was made during an act at an evangelical church in Florida and it is the first time that Bolsonaro has made a public statement about his return.
“I also want to return to Brazil, I intend to return to Brazil in the coming weeks”, he said.
Bolsonaro traveled to Orlando (Florida) on December 30 in a kind of self-imposed exile.
With the trip to the United States in the last days of his presidency, Bolsonaro avoided the task of imposing the presidential sash and making the solemn transfer of power to his successor and rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro is subject to various investigations into his management, for which reason it has been speculated that his departure from the country sought to avoid them.
These pending investigations have now been joined by the one related to his role in the assault by his supporters on the institutions of Brasilia on January 8.
“We have created a government without corruption.
We work with the heart, honestly.
And we have to face the problems.
Sometimes we have to take risks.
Worth.
You can be sure that the majority of the Brazilian people are with us, ”said the former president after announcing his return plans.
Bolsonaro came to the United States on a one-month diplomatic visa as he was still president of Brazil at the time of his entry into the country.
That visa expired at the end of January and Bolsonaro has requested a tourist visa with which to extend his stay in the country.
He arrived at Orlando's Signature Flight Support airport aboard the presidential plane and was transferred, escorted by his security service, to a mansion in the
former Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter José Aldo da Silva, where he has been staying.
Since then, there has been speculation about how long he could spend without returning to Brazil.
His wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, and his daughter returned to Brazil at the end of January, but the unknown about the former president remains open.
His eldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, delved into uncertainty two weeks ago: “There is no forecast, he is the one who knows.
He may be tomorrow, in six months, he may never come back.
I don't know,” he stated.
The event this Saturday in Florida was held in Portuguese and was attended by a multitude of Bolsonaro supporters.
It was organized by the right-wing group Sí Brasil USA and Bolsonaro has been cheered throughout the event, according to AP.
Bolsonaro's statement comes the day after the visit of the current Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to the United States.
Joe Biden invited him to the White House just after the assault on the headquarters of the Government, Congress and the Supreme Court in Brasilia, which evoked what happened in the Washington Capitol on January 6 two years before.
In the joint statement that they issued this Friday at the end of the meeting, Biden and Lula evoked the defense of democracy and the rule of law as shared values.
On the occasion of the visit, Lula gave an interview to the CNN channel in which he described his predecessor in the Planalto palace as a "faithful imitator" of Donald Trump.
The Brazilian president recalled that justice is investigating Bolsonaro for instigating the attack on democracy, although he also stressed that he had no intention of asking Biden to extradite the far-right.
For the first time in his political career of more than three decades as a legislator and later as president, Bolsonaro no longer enjoys the special jurisdiction that requires him to be tried in the Supreme Court and his cases have been sent to the lower court this past week. .
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