Elected Democrat officials Thursday called on President Joe Biden to revoke the visa of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is in Florida (south), refusing to allow the United States to serve as a haven for the former leader.
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“We must not allow Mr. Bolsonaro or any other former Brazilian official to seek refuge in the United States to evade justice for a possible crime committed during his tenure,” write these 41 elected officials, all from the Democratic Party an outspoken Letter to President Biden released Thursday.
They are also calling on the US government to “fully cooperate with any investigation by the Brazilian government if we are asked to do so” and to review the legal status in the United States of the former president who has entered the United States as head of state.
Lawmakers are also demanding that the Justice Department investigate possible United States “support or funding” for the Jan. 8 violent crimes, citing the invasion and looting of three iconic power squares in Brasilia that day by supporters of former President Bolsonaro .
These events commemorated the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The far-right former president left Brazil for Florida two days before Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s Jan. 1 inauguration. He lives in the house of a former Brazilian MMA fighter.
He was hospitalized last Sunday for an intestinal “glue” and released Tuesday night.
His stint in Florida puts the United States in a relatively embarrassing light, particularly in relation to past hosts of controversial Latin American leaders.
When asked Wednesday, the head of US diplomacy Antony Blinken said the United States had not received a request from Brazil about Jair Bolsonaro, but that it would “quickly” process any such request.
Joe Biden invited his Brazilian counterpart Lula to Washington in early February.