Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has announced that he will return to his home country in March. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal he said on Tuesday that he wants to lead the political opposition in Brazil. He also wants to defend himself against allegations that he is said to have incited anti-democratic protests.
Bolsonaro flew to Florida two days before his term ended on January 1. The right-wing politician had lost the presidential election against the leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro’s supporters later stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace, demanding a military coup. The Supreme Court approved an investigation into whether Bolsonaro instigated the anti-democracy protests.
At a meeting between Bolsonaro’s successor Lula and US President Joe Biden at the White House last week, Biden said democracy had “victorious” in both the US and Brazil after heavy attacks on their institutions. “The strong democracies of both our countries have been tested recently, and our institutions have been in jeopardy,” Biden said when he received Lula less than six weeks after his inauguration.
“We must continue to stand up for democracy and the democratic values that are at the core of our strength.” The Oval Office meeting was intended as a show of support for Brazil’s newly elected government and to show that relations between the Americas’ two largest democracies are back on track. Biden, 80, and Lula, 77, are veteran politicians who overcame similar challenges at the hands of their predecessors on their rise to power.