A group of elected Democrats in the United States cringe even more after the decision taken by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has lived in exile in the United States since the end of December, to extend his stay by six months, by applying for a new visa. These politicians are now counting on the rapid adoption of a bill, introduced last week in Congress, to overcome this annoying visitor, accused Thursday evening by the new president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, of to be the mastermind of the recent attack, by his supporters, on Brazilian democratic institutions.
It was January 8th. Bolsonaro could face justice in his country as much for this insurrection as for alleged corruption cases during his presidency.
“The United States must never become a haven for anyone who undermines the values that our nation stands for: democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and the sanctity of free and fair elections,” summarized Democratic Senator from Illinois, Richard Durbin who is sponsoring the bill with his colleagues Mazie Hirono from Hawaii, and Bernie Sanders, Independent Senator from Vermont.
The bill seeks to prevent “foreign officials who interfere with democratic elections or resist the democratic transfer of power in their country from seeking refuge in the United States,” Durbin said in a statement.
Visa application
This is what Jair Bolsonaro has obviously been trying to do since December 30. He landed in the United States, two days before the end of his term, to settle temporarily in the suburbs of Orlando, Florida. Entered while he was still president of Brazil, the one nicknamed the “Trump of the Tropics” benefited until January 30 from a visa granted to presidents and diplomats visiting the United States. It is the first time that an outgoing president does not attend the ceremony of transfer of power in his country. Bolsonaro followed from this American state the attack on places of power in the capital, Brasília, on January 8, by his supporters claiming, without providing proof, that the election of Lula had been fraudulent.
Even if he had promised to move up his return to Brazil before the end of January, he said on the airwaves of CNN Brazil, the populist finally placed himself on another trajectory, by filing a few days ago a request for a six-month tourist visa, confirmed the law firm AG, of Washington, in charge of the delicate file. The US immigration services declined to comment on the nature of the application or its processing.
Far from these administrative concerns, Jair Bolsonaro leads a rich public life in the United States where he currently gives several conferences. On Friday, he was scheduled to speak at a rally organized by the ultraconservative group Turning Point USA in Miami on the theme of “people power”.
Last week, the populist’s son, Flávio, indicated that his father was in the United States to rest. As for the date of his return to Brazil, he said: “It could be tomorrow, it could be in six months, it could be never, I don’t know,” he told the Brazilian media. Folha de S. Paulo.
dodging justice
With this visa application, Bolsonaro seeks to “escape the charges that link him to crimes against Brazilian democracy, summarized in an interview with the Duty the historian specializing in Brazilian politics Marilia Corrêa joined Baylor University in Texas where she teaches. He is thus trying to stay away from the groups that spent months outside military barracks in Brazil to support his claim that the 2022 Brazilian presidential elections were fraudulent and from the groups that invaded public buildings in Brasília on January 8.
On Thursday evening on Brazilian television RedeTV!, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he was “certain” that his predecessor “prepared a coup” and fomented the January 8 attack. “I am certain that Bolsonaro actively participated in this and is still trying to participate in it,” he said, while calling “to defeat Bolsonarism”, after having succeeded, with a slim majority however, in dislodging the populist in power after just one term.
The noose is tightening on the former Brazilian president. This week, a close ally, Senator Marcos do Val, turned against him by recounting having participated in a summit meeting on December 9, in the presence of Bolsonaro, aimed at establishing a plan to compromise the highest electoral authority. of the country, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, to prevent the entry into office of the newly elected President Lula.
On Thursday, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, eldest son of the former president, confirmed despite himself the existence of this meeting before Congress, indicating that it “does not constitute any type of crime”.
“Intellectual author” of the attacks
Since January 8, revelations have followed one another on the intentions and steps of the Bolsonaro camp to keep the populist in power, against the will of the ballot box, in the wake of the presidential election last October. To date, the former Brazilian president has still not conceded victory.
In the days following the uprising, a search of the residence of Anderson Torres, Bolsonaro’s former justice minister and Brasília’s security chief at the time of the attacks on democracy, found a draft decree which could have been used to initiate a military coup in Brazil.
Mr. Torres was arrested on his return from Florida where he was also during the events of January 8. Jair Bolsonaro is under investigation, suspected of being the “intellectual author” of the attacks. Brazilian justice is also seeking to establish the role played by the security forces and their possible complicity with the rioters. Several of them were under the authority of Anderson Torres.
“Jair Bolsonaro should be expelled to Brazil to answer for his crimes, says Marilia Corrêa. However, even though members of Congress in Brazil and the United States have asked the judicial systems of both countries to extradite the former president, this process may take a long time to be approved,” she adds. , while specifying that the refusal or cancellation of Bolsonaro’s visa, which the American authorities can do, ultimately remains the simplest and fastest way to refer him to justice in his country.
On Tuesday, at a reception held by Yes Brazil USA, a conservative organization of Brazilian expatriates in the United States in which he participated in Florida, Bolsonaro said he was “more popular than ever” and assured that he intends to “remain active in Brazilian politics”.
With Agence France-Presse