(Washington) Elected Democrats called on Thursday for President Joe Biden to revoke the visa of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is in Florida (south), refusing that the United States serve as a refuge for the former leader.
“We must not allow Mr. Bolsonaro or any other former Brazilian official to find refuge in the United States in order to escape justice for any possible crime committed during his mandate”, write these 41 elected officials, all from the Democratic Party. , in an open letter to President Biden released Thursday.
They also call on the US government to “cooperate fully with any investigation by the Brazilian government, if we are asked to do so” and to verify the legal status in the United States of the former president, who arrived in the United States as a head of state.
Lawmakers are further demanding that the Department of Justice investigate possible “support or funding” from the United States for the violent crimes of January 8, referring to the invasion and ransacking that day of three emblematic places of power in Brasilia by supporters of former President Bolsonaro.
These events came to recall that of the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The far-right former president had left Brazil for Florida two days before the inauguration of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on 1er January. He is staying at the home of a former Brazilian MMA fighter.
He was admitted to hospital last Sunday for an intestinal “adhesion” and was released on Tuesday evening.
His stay in Florida puts the United States in a relatively embarrassing light, particularly with reference to previous hosts of controversial Latin American leaders.
Asked on Wednesday, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken said that the United States had not received any request from Brazil about Jair Bolsonaro, but that it would process such a request “quickly”.
Joe Biden invited his Brazilian counterpart Lula to come and see him in Washington in early February.