Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro said he was preparing to leave the US and return home in the next few weeks, after being criticized following the attack on the country’s capital by thousands of his supporters.
The far-right populist has been in Florida since late last year when his term ended, following his electoral defeat to leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“I have arrived [to the United States] stay until the end of the month [January]but I plan to come back soon,” he told CNN Brasil.
After rioters calling for the overthrow of Lula’s new government stormed the National Assembly, the supreme court and the presidential palace in Brasília on Sunday, the White House face call from famous politicians to expel Bolsonaro.
Critics in the US and Brazil have accused the former president of encouraging extremism and disrespecting democratic institutions.
Bolsonarowho is under numerous legal investigations in his home country, has shied away from attacks that he says are “off-limits”.
But he appears to have foreseen any possibility of deportation from his overseas trip and is expected to return voluntarily.
The 67-year-old was admitted to the hospital on Monday with abdominal pain related to the injury he was stabbed on the campaign trail in 2018.
Bolsonaro told CNN Brasil that doctors in Brazil were more familiar with his bowel obstruction, which led to his previous hospitalization.
“I came to spend time away with my family. But I didn’t have quiet days. First, there’s this unfortunate episode [on Sunday] in Brazil and then my hospitalization,” he added.
A person close to Bolsonaro’s family said the former president wanted to seek treatment from doctors in his hometown.
This decision will ease the headache for the administration of President Joe Biden. Democratic lawmakers Joaquin Castro and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were among those demanding Bolsonaro’s expulsion.
Bolsonaro has denied Lula’s accusations that he encouraged violent disorder. In the re-enactments of the invasion of the US Capitol two years earlier, the perpetrators destroyed government buildings that were uninhabited due to the summer break. Hundreds of people were arrested and detained.
“Don’t try to make up a lie as if Bolsonaro has any connection to these irresponsibly actions,” Flávio, son of Bolsonaro, a senator, said during a Senate session yesterday. Tuesday. He added that his father has been “virtually out of touch” since losing the election.
Renan Calheiros, a prominent Brazilian senator, on Monday asked the country’s Supreme Court to extradite “immediately” the former president, citing his involvement in Sunday’s disturbances. is “undeniable”.
Additional reporting by Carolina Ingizza
