Former President Jair Bolsonaro has returned to Brazil this Thursday, after spending three months in the United States, a country to which he traveled two days before leaving power, in a return amid strong security at the Brasilia airport.
The Gol airline’s commercial flight from Orlando, which was scheduled to arrive at 7:10 (10:10 GMT), has landed 25 minutes earlier and for security reasons it did not depart through the main gate, where it was awaited by journalists and dozens of followers.
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It is the first time that Bolsonaro has set foot in Brazil since his followers stormed several institutional buildings in Brasilia on January 8.
The far-right leader, who is facing several investigations in different judicial instances, will go to the headquarters of the Liberal Party (PL), where he will be received in a private ceremony by his wife Michelle and by the party’s president, Valdemar Costa Neto.
The PL named him “honorary president” after his re-election campaign against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated him at the polls last October by a difference of 1.8 percentage points.
not acknowledging defeat
Bolsonaro, who continues without acknowledging his electoral defeat against the progressive Lula, returns to Brazil after a three-month stay in Orlando, where he arrived on December 30 while still head of state.
The 67-year-old retired Army captain traveled two days before the end of his term, thus breaking the tradition of passing the presidential sash to his successor in the Presidency, in this case Lula, his greatest political adversary.
On the eve of his return, Bolsonaro hinted from the US in an interview with the Jovem Pan network that he will oppose the government of the current Brazilian president.
Lula’s government has declined to comment on the return of the former president, who according to the PL returns to the country with the “task” of regrouping the right-wing forces, partially atomized since Lula was in power.
Bolsonaro is being investigated in his country for the assault by his most radical followers on the headquarters of the three state powers on January 8.
In recent weeks, an investigation has been added, which has not yet reached the courts, into valuable gifts that he received from Saudi Arabia in his capacity as president and kept after leaving power, despite the fact that he had to deliver them to the State.
Life in Florida
The former president of Brazil has lived these months in central Florida surrounded by the support of his followers among the large Brazilian community and taking care not to make statements that could appeal to the US authorities.
His presence in the US became more controversial as a result of the attack on the three powers in Brasilia carried out in January by hundreds of his followers to overthrow the government of Lula da Silva.
During his stay in Orlando, Bolsonaro has stayed at the home of a mixed martial arts fighter, José Aldo, and has led a normal life with visits to supermarkets, restaurants and temples, according to videos posted on the networks by his followers.
He also had a massive meeting with his supporters, who yelled “stay, stay” at an Orlando restaurant, participated as keynote speaker at a conservative political forum in Doral (Miami) and met former President Donald Trump in Washington.
Shortly after his arrival in the US, he went to a hospital for an abdominal ailment derived from the injuries he suffered in an attack during the 2018 electoral campaign that led him to the Presidency.
