Brazil’s right-wing ex-president Jair Bolsonaro wants to return home in March to lead the opposition against his left-wing successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “The right-wing movement is not dead and will live on,” said the 67-year-old in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Bolsonaro has denied allegations that he had anything to do with the January riots in the Brazilian capital Brasília. “I wasn’t even there and they want to pin it on me,” said the ex-president. Nor was it an attempted coup: “A coup? What kind of coup? Where was the leader? Where were the troops, where were the bombs?”
Bolsonaro lost to Lula in the presidential runoff in October. On January 8, supporters of the ex-military force, who did not want to recognize Lula’s election victory, stormed the congress, the seat of government and the Supreme Court in Brasília, causing considerable damage. The Supreme Court is investigating, among other things, “intellectual authorship” and the role of Bolsonaro.
Multi-month US visa reports
Regarding the outcome of the election in Brazil, Bolsonaro said: “Losing is part of the electoral process. I’m not saying there was fraud, but the process was biased.” He does not yet know whether he wants to run again in a presidential election, the former head of state continued. The role is “much more difficult” than he expected.
Two days before the end of his term on New Year’s, the ex-president flew to the United States with his family and has been in Florida since then. According to media reports, Bolsonaro applied for a six-month tourist visa in the United States.
