He used to preside over Latin America’s largest country and its 214 million people. Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro now lives in a small Florida town and eats alone in a fast-food restaurant.
Bolsonaro, 67, has found an unusual refuge in the US, where he arrived in late December last year, several days before his supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia in an attempt to overturn the election victory of his rival, Brazilain President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
At home, Bolsonaro is being investigated over his alleged involvement in the unrest, which he denies.
Photo: AFP
From the lavish presidential palace, Bolsonaro, a political soulmate of former US president Donald Trump, went on to live in a small community of nearly identical houses near the Disney World resort.
In his first six weeks in the US, Bolsonaro has kept a low profile, staying at the Orlando home of Brazilian former martial arts champion Jose Aldo, making a trip to a local supermarket and being photographed eating fried chicken alone at a KFC restaurant.
On Friday, the man who until recently commanded huge crowds in his home country, spoke to about 400 supporters at an event organized by the US conservative organization Turning Point USA at the Trump National hotel in the city of Doral, near Miami.
It was unclear if Trump himself played any part in organizing the event.
The meeting had the vibe of an election rally. Bolsonaro spoke passionately about fulfilling his duties to his country — except that the man dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” was in Florida, several thousand kilometers away from his homeland.
“There is no greater satisfaction than that of having fulfilled a duty,” Bolsonaro said of his presidency.
He spoke before an audience dressed in elegant suits and dresses, as well as the yellow-and-green shirts of the Brazilian soccer team.
Three days earlier, Bolsonaro spoke in the ballroom of a shopping mall restaurant in Orlando at an event put together by the Brazilian expatriate community in Florida.
Bolsonaro, who had repeatedly cast doubt on Lula’s narrow victory in runoff on Oct. 30, again questioned his election loss, calling himself “more popular than ever.”
“Many people are still shaken by what happened in the elections ... but we will face this moment and, God willing, we will win together,” he said.
However, Bolsonaro said that he regretted “what some inconsistent people did” during the unrest.
The crowd was welcoming at both Florida events, with supporters hugging and taking selfies with him and cheering him on.
However, he faces an uncertain future.
After publicly declaring his intention to return to Brazil at the end of January, Bolsonaro last week applied for a new visa to be able to stay in the US for six more months.
One of his sons, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, has said that the former president had no return date.
“It may be tomorrow, or six months from now, or he may never come back,” he told reporters.
At the Orlando restaurant on Tuesday, Bolsonaro nevertheless promised to “remain active in Brazilian politics.”
He did not elaborate.
Now it remains to be seen whether he maintains a low profile or whether he tries to boost his standing in the US.
“I’ve always been a huge admirer of the American people — their liberties, their patriotism and their love of the flag,” he told the gathering on Friday.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law in an unannounced late night address broadcast live on YTN television. Yoon said he had no choice but to resort to such a measure in order to safeguard free and constitutional order, saying opposition parties have taken hostage of the parliamentary process to throw the country into a crisis. "I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free
France on Friday showed off to the world the gleaming restored interior of Notre-Dame cathedral, a week before the 850-year-old medieval edifice reopens following painstaking restoration after the devastating 2019 fire. French President Emmanuel Macron conducted an inspection of the restoration, broadcast live on television, saying workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “national wound” after the fire on April 19, 2019. While every effort has been made to remain faithful to the original look of the cathedral, an international team of designers and architects have created a luminous space that has an immediate impact on the visitor. The floor shimmers and
CHAGOS ISLANDS: Recently elected Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam told lawmakers that the contents of negotiations are ‘unknown’ to the government Mauritius’ new prime minister ordered an independent review of a deal with the UK involving a strategically important US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, placing the agreement under fresh scrutiny. Under a pact signed last month, the UK ceded sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, while retaining control of Diego Garcia — the island where the base is situated. The deal was signed by then-Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Oct. 3 — a month before elections in Mauritius in which Navin Ramgoolam became premier. “I have asked for an independent review of the
LAOS: The bars of bustling Vang Vieng remain open, but information on the investigation into the deaths of six backpackers from suspected methanol poisoning is scarce The music is still playing and the alcohol is still flowing at the bars along one of the party streets in Vang Vieng. Inside a popular venue, a voice over the speaker announces a special offer on beers, as disco lights flicker on the floor. Small paper flags from nations across the world — from the UK to Gabon — hang from the ceiling. Young people travel from all corners of the globe to party in the small town nestled in the Laos countryside, but Vang Vieng is under a global spotlight, following a suspected mass methanol poisoning that killed six
RSS