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.
EMBASSY TRAP? A missionary said that the group had been told they needed to report to the Chinese embassy, but added if they were to walk in, ‘they are gone’ More than 60 members of a Chinese Christian church have been detained in Thailand, supporters said yesterday, raising fears they might be returned to their home country, where they face possible persecution. Deana Brown, one of two American supporters detained along with the church members, said that Thai authorities in the coastal city of Pattaya on Thursday detained the 63 church members, many of whom are children. Thirty-two adult Chinese nationals were charged with overstaying their visas, said Colonel Tawee Kutthalaeng, chief of the Pattaya-area Nong Prue police station. The children were not charged, Kutthalaeng said. The two US citizens were not placed under
China and Brazil have reached a deal to trade in their own currencies, ditching the US dollar as an intermediary, the Brazilian government said on Wednesday, Beijing’s latest salvo against the greenback. The deal would enable China, the top rival to US economic hegemony, and Brazil, the biggest economy in Latin America, to conduct their massive trade and financial transactions directly, exchanging yuan for reals and vice versa instead of going through the US dollar. “The expectation is that this will reduce costs ... promote even greater bilateral trade and facilitate investment,” the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency said in a
India yesterday summoned Canada’s high commissioner in India to “convey strong concern” over Sikh protesters in Canada and how they were allowed to breach the security of India’s diplomatic mission and consulates. Canadian media reported that hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Indian consulate in Vancouver on Saturday over demands for an independent Sikh state, a simmering issue for decades that was triggered again in the past few weeks. Canada has the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab in India. “It is expected that the Canadian government will take all steps which are required to ensure the
The Japanese government has made tackling its falling birthrate a top priority, but with few women involved in official debate on the issue, some are making themselves heard on social media. Japan recorded fewer than 800,000 births last year, the lowest in the nation of 125 million since records began. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has warned the trend threatens “whether we can continue to function as a society,” and fresh focus on the issue has sparked countless articles. However, one in particular, which said Japan has the highest ratio in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development of women aged 50