Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Bolsonaro Eyes Return to Brazil as Pressure Mounts on Biden to Expel Him
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
January 11, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

MIAMI — The Biden administration is under growing pressure from leftists in Latin America as well as U.S. lawmakers to expel Jair Bolsonaro from a post-presidential retreat in Florida following his supporters’ brazen attack on Brazil’s capital over the weekend.

But the far-right ex-president may pre-empt any plans for such a stinging rebuke. On Tuesday, he told a Brazilian media outlet that he would push up his return home, originally scheduled for late January, after being hospitalized with abdominal pains stemming from a 2018 stabbing.

“I came to spend some time away with my family but these weren’t calm days,” Bolsonaro told CNN’s Portuguese-language affiliate in Brazil. “First, there was this sad episode in Brazil and then my hospitalization.”

Bolsonaro arrived in Florida in late December, skipping the Jan. 1 swearing-in of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who became the first elected Brazilian president not to receive the presidential sash from his predecessor since democracy was restored in the 1980s. Bolsonaro is reportedly staying at the Orlando-area home of Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter Jose Aldo, a fervent supporter.

Bolsonaro Faces Calls for Expulsion From US Soil

His visit to the Sunshine state went largely unnoticed in the U.S. until Sunday’s attack by thousands of die-hard supporters who had been camping for weeks outside a military base in Brasilia, refusing to accept Bolsonaro’s narrow defeat in an October runoff. Their invasion of Brazil’s congress and presidential palace left behind shattered glass, smashed computers and slashed artwork.

Almost from the moment the images of destruction were broadcast to the world, Democrats voiced concern about Bolsonaro’s continued presence on U.S. soil, drawing parallels between the rampage in Brazil and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection by allies of Donald Trump who stormed the Capitol to try to overturn the U.S. presidential election results.

Among those calling for President Joe Biden to give Bolsonaro the boot was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“Nearly two years to the day the U.S. Capitol was attacked by fascists, we see fascist movements abroad attempt to do the same in Brazil,” the New York City lawmaker said. “The U.S. must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida.”

It should be a no-brainer for the White House, experts say.

Biden Administration Weighs Threats to Democracy in Latin America

Biden has never had a close relationship with Bolsonaro, who made common cause with Trump’s top allies on the far right. And any action to expel him is likely to play well in Latin America, where Biden is courting a crop of new leftist leaders who have risen to power in places like Chile and Colombia expressing similar concerns about threats to democracy.

“It’s one thing to make statements about support for democracy,” said John Feeley, a longtime U.S. diplomat in Latin America who resigned as ambassador to Panama in 2018 over differences with the Trump administration.

“It’s another to actually take action in your own home, where you have sovereign control, with someone who is clearly in league with the same folks who brought you Jan. 6,” Feeley said.

But so far the Biden administration has proceeded cautiously.

On Monday, State Department spokesman Ned Price, while sidestepping questions about Bolsonaro’s presence, said anyone entering the U.S. on a so-called A-1 visa reserved for sitting heads of state would have 30 days to either leave the country or adjust their status with the Department of Homeland Security at the conclusion of their term of office.

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was similarly circumspect, saying only that any request from Brazil’s government related to Bolsonaro would be evaluated, taking into consideration legal precedent. Typically, the U.S. is reluctant to discuss visa issues out of privacy concerns.

Feeley said the longer the Biden administration waits the weaker its support for democracy will be perceived in the region.

Bolsonaro Denied Italian Citizenship

One place Bolsonaro apparently isn’t going is Italy. The former president is the descendant of 19th-century immigrants from northern Italy and Brazilian media had speculated for months that he and his children would seek Italian citizenship out of fear he could be prosecuted in Brazil for corruption or his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic.

But Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told state radio on Tuesday that Bolsonaro has never requested citizenship — despite being bestowed honorary citizenship in 2021 by the small town where his great-grandfather was born.

“There are laws that address who gets citizenship,″ Tajani said, emphasizing his far-right-led government’s strong condemnation of the raid on Brazilian government institutions by Bolsonaro supporters. “It is not a political, discretionary choice.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

California Senator Will Make Historic Appearance at Fresno City College Commencement

DON'T MISS

Gaza Ceasefire Talks in Cairo Near ‘Significant Breakthrough,’ Two Security Sources Say

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Farmer Sentenced to Prison in $650,000 Crop Insurance Fraud Case

DON'T MISS

Where Were the Most Car Crashes in Clovis? Police Release List

DON'T MISS

Protesters to Rally in Brooklyn After Pro-Israel Crowd Assaults Woman

DON'T MISS

Selma Teen’s Death May Be Tied to Fentanyl, Police Say

DON'T MISS

Blast Kills at Least 26 People in Nigeria’s Northeast, Residents Say

DON'T MISS

5-Year-Old Girl and Parents Among Those Dead in Vehicle Ramming in Vancouver

DON'T MISS

Feds Again Bump Up Water Allocation for Many Fresno County Farmers

DON'T MISS

Levi Strauss Shareholders Vote Against Proposal to End Diversity Programs

UP NEXT

Blast Kills at Least 26 People in Nigeria’s Northeast, Residents Say

UP NEXT

5-Year-Old Girl and Parents Among Those Dead in Vehicle Ramming in Vancouver

UP NEXT

Death Toll in Iran’s Bandar Abbas Port Blast Rises to 70

UP NEXT

Iran Proposes Meeting With Europeans Before Next Talks With US, Diplomats Say

UP NEXT

Saudi Arabia and Qatar to Pay Off Syria’s Debt to the World Bank

UP NEXT

Pakistan Defense Minister Says Military Incursion by India Is Imminent

UP NEXT

Huge Power Outage Paralyzes Parts of Spain and Portugal

UP NEXT

US Sanctions Target Deliveries of Oil and Gas to Houthis

UP NEXT

Putin Orders 3-Day Truce in Ukraine Next Month, Kremlin Says

UP NEXT

Suspected US Airstrike Hits Yemen Migrant Centre; Houthi TV Says 68 Killed

Where Were the Most Car Crashes in Clovis? Police Release List

3 hours ago

Protesters to Rally in Brooklyn After Pro-Israel Crowd Assaults Woman

4 hours ago

Selma Teen’s Death May Be Tied to Fentanyl, Police Say

4 hours ago

Blast Kills at Least 26 People in Nigeria’s Northeast, Residents Say

4 hours ago

5-Year-Old Girl and Parents Among Those Dead in Vehicle Ramming in Vancouver

4 hours ago

Feds Again Bump Up Water Allocation for Many Fresno County Farmers

5 hours ago

Levi Strauss Shareholders Vote Against Proposal to End Diversity Programs

5 hours ago

US and Mexico Have Reached Agreement on New World Screwworm, Ag Secretary Rollins Says

6 hours ago

Death Toll in Iran’s Bandar Abbas Port Blast Rises to 70

6 hours ago

Selma Mayor Responds to Criminal Charge

6 hours ago

California Senator Will Make Historic Appearance at Fresno City College Commencement

For the first time in Fresno City College’s 115-year history, a United States senator will speak at its commencement ceremony. California De...

3 hours ago

3 hours ago

California Senator Will Make Historic Appearance at Fresno City College Commencement

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip April 28, 2025. (REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa)
3 hours ago

Gaza Ceasefire Talks in Cairo Near ‘Significant Breakthrough,’ Two Security Sources Say

3 hours ago

Fresno County Farmer Sentenced to Prison in $650,000 Crop Insurance Fraud Case

3 hours ago

Where Were the Most Car Crashes in Clovis? Police Release List

Officers with the New York Police Department outside the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, on Monday, April 28, 2025. The Police Department said it was preparing for new protests in Brooklyn on Monday after a woman was verbally and physically assaulted by hundreds of pro-Israel demonstrators there last week. (Victor J. Blue/The New York Times)
4 hours ago

Protesters to Rally in Brooklyn After Pro-Israel Crowd Assaults Woman

4 hours ago

Selma Teen’s Death May Be Tied to Fentanyl, Police Say

At least 26 people were killed and three injured on Monday when two vehicles struck an improvised explosive device in Nigeria’s insurgency-hit Borno state, an attack residents blamed on Boko Haram. (Shutterstock)
4 hours ago

Blast Kills at Least 26 People in Nigeria’s Northeast, Residents Say

Visitors pay their respects at a memorial after a vehicle drove into a crowd during a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP/Lindsey Wasson)
4 hours ago

5-Year-Old Girl and Parents Among Those Dead in Vehicle Ramming in Vancouver

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend