Despite the Damocles sword of justice, Jair Bolsonaro will set foot in his country. The former head of state from 2019 to 2022 is expected in Brasilia early this Thursday after a three-month stay in the United States. He is determined to play a major political role in Lula’s Brazil, which narrowly defeated him in the October presidential election.
The former president, the subject of a long series of investigations, exposes himself on returning to legal proceedings and ineligibility as well as possible imprisonment. Jair Bolsonaro is due to arrive in Brasilia at 7:10 a.m. on a commercial flight from Orlando, Florida, his Liberal Party (PL) has announced. He had left Brazil on December 30, even before the end of his term, boycotting the investiture ceremony of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to whom he should have passed the presidential sash, according to protocol.
The military police mobilized
“I’m not going to lead the opposition in any way, I’m going to participate (in the political life) of my party, bringing my experience,” he told CNN Brazil on Wednesday evening at Orlando airport. before taking the plane. At 68 and after a defeat of less than two million votes which had plunged him into silence or even depression, Jair Bolsonaro declared last week his intention to “travel the country”, and “to do politics” to defend ultra-conservative values in Brazil.
This return is greeted with nervousness in Brasilia where the military police will ensure that no gathering takes place. It “will stand ready to quickly close access to the Esplanade of the Three Powers (in the heart of the capital) as well as to the airport,” said Sandro Alevar, Brasilia’s public security secretary, on Wednesday. But the day could be tense, Bolsonaro supporters having been called on social networks to welcome him in large numbers at the airport, even if he is not expected to address them.
Upon his arrival, Jair Bolsonaro must go to the premises of the PL, under escort of military police vehicles, like any ex-president. He must be welcomed there by Valdemar Costa Netto, the leader of this party under whose colors he had presented himself for the presidency, and by deputies, allied senators and former ministers. The Liberal Party, which confirmed that Bolsonaro, by becoming its honorary president, would receive monthly emoluments of nearly 7,000 euros, also made great publicity around the arrival of the former head of state.
After the premises of the PL, Bolsonaro must go to his future residence, in a very protected residential complex in the Jardim Botanico district of Brasilia, with his wife Michelle. This 41-year-old fervent evangelical has just taken the helm of the women’s branch of the PL and could possibly run for president in 2026.