Bolsonaro’s decision to leave the country has been suspected in Brasilia for days, but so far there has been absolute silence in the far-right leader’s government. Photo: page 12.
The Brazilian government gave the first indications on Wednesday President Jair Bolsonaro will travel to the United States at any time and avoid attending next Sunday’s inauguration ceremony for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro’s decision to leave the country has been suspected in Brasilia for days, but so far there has been absolute silence in the government of the far-right leader, who is isolated and has barely appeared in public since his defeat at the end of October, in the polls he has yet to recognise Has.
“I’m not going to party. fake. I will not be traveling this Wednesday. Fake,” Bolsonaro told CNN Brasil briefly, before press reports reported that he had everything ready to move to Orlando, Florida, for three months, where a large part of Brazil’s extreme right is concentrated abroad.
However, the first indication of his departure was published in the Official Gazette this Wednesday. It is an authorization for a trip to Miami by Presidency security personnel, signed by General Augusto Heleno, Secretary of Institutional Security. The text states that the trip will take place between December 28 and 29, suggesting that Bolsonaro would leave for Miami at any time.
Photo: page 12.
Some versions in the local press are considering the possibility of Bolsonaro staying at former US President Donald Trump’s Mar a Lago complex, with whom the Brazilian has been in close contact for years. Both served as Presidents in 2020. Others assure that Bolsonaro will settle down in the home of a businessman friend in Orlando, but nothing has been confirmed or commented on by the government.
The Brazilian press pointed out that Carlos Bolsonaro, the president’s son and city councilor of Rio de Janeiro and his father’s digital advisor, is already in Florida and is said to be the head of the so-called “hate cabinet”, i.e. the social media fake news Machine in criminal investigations before the Supreme Court.
The far-right leader’s eventual departure would confirm that he will not attend Lula’s inauguration ceremony, nor will there be the traditional presidential sash transmission, which has strong institutional and democratic symbolism in Brazil. It’s not yet known if Bolsonaro will have any authority at the change of command, at the ceremony planned after being sworn in before Congress outside the door of the Planalto Palace, the seat of government.
The outgoing president has been restricted to his official residence in Brasilia since October 30 last year, when the polls confirmed the victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is not recognized even by the most radical groups of Bolsonaro’s ultra-right. Bolsonaro did not openly acknowledge the electoral defeat and did not condemn the attacks that took place in Brasilia on December 12, when Bolsonaro launched a series of attacks in the streets and burned more than a dozen vehicles against Lula’s diploma as president.
An investment with maximum security
Photo: File/Cubadebate.
Security around Lula’s inauguration ceremony is being tightened after a plot was discovered over the weekend being carried out by a Bolsonaro businessman accused of sticking dynamite in a fuel truck to try to blow up Brasilia’s international airport bust. George Washington Sousa, accused of terrorism and with an arsenal in his rented apartment in Brasilia, confessed to police that he intended to cause chaos and get Bolsonaro to declare a state of siege before Lula’s inauguration.
On the other hand, the National Security Force, the federal government’s elite police force, joined the Jan. 1 deployment in Brasilia for Lula’s inauguration ceremony as part of increased security measures as thousands of protesters camped out the army’s headquarters in Brasilia beforehand, demanding a coup to save Bolsonaro to hold the power.
“On Sunday there will be a mobilization of 100% of the Federal District (DF) police forces to ensure the safety of not only the president but also foreign delegations and the public,” future minister of security Flávio Dino told reporters the Lula government.
It has not yet been decided whether Lula will do the traditional parade in front of the public on the esplanade of the ministries in a closed car or, as usual, in a convertible. “Both scenarios will be available that day, and the decision will be made at that time,” he added in a conference with the future secretary of defense and the federal district governor in charge of local police.
There is also a judge from the Supreme Court of Brazil suspended gun permits in Brasilia until January 2 this Wednesday to reinforce security for the president-elect’s inauguration. The decision was made by Justice Alexandre de Moraes in response to a request from Lula’s team after far-right groups threatened attack or violent action to try to prevent the president-elect from taking office at the next ceremony on Sunday. De Moraes justified the decision with various events that took place in Brasilia over the past two weeks, which were attributed to violent groups supporting the outgoing president.
(taken from page 12)