Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has applied for a six-month tourist visa to remain in the United States, his lawyer said on Monday.
Bolsonaro, who led Brazil from 2019 to 2022, is being investigated after thousands of his supporters stormed the capital, Brasilia, and damaged major government buildings in protest of what they believed to be his unfair election loss to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, colloquially known as Lula. The storming of the capital occurred on Jan. 8 and was eerily reminiscent of the U.S. Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
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Bolsonaro has made claims that malfeasance deprived him of victory against Lula, who was sworn in as president on New Year’s Day. These claims included elevating disputed assertions that voting machines malfunctioned and sharing a subsequently deleted video of a woman casting doubt on Lula’s victory.
Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida on Dec. 30. Still, his unfounded claims of election interference led Brazil’s Supreme Court to authorize a review of the former president’s role in the riot.
A group of 46 Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. sent President Joe Biden a letter on Jan. 12 demanding that Bolsonaro’s diplomatic visa be canceled. A Brazilian lawmaker also implored the U.S. government to initiate extradition proceedings for the former president after the capital attack.
Bolsonaro’s son, a senator, told reporters he was not sure when his father would return to Brazil.
“It could be tomorrow, it could be in six months, he might never return. I don’t know. He’s relaxing,” Flávio Bolsonaro said, per the Guardian.
The news outlet added that the U.S. State Department has repeatedly declined to answer questions about Bolsonaro’s visa status in the U.S.
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Bolsonaro has been embroiled in at least five major inquiries pertaining to his alleged abuse of power, fraud, promulgation of misinformation, and leaking of classified information, as well as his handling of the pandemic. His successor, Lula, was previously arrested on corruption and money laundering charges in 2018, but the Supreme Court stepped in and scrapped those charges in 2019, paving the way for his rise to power.
During his stay in Florida, Bolsonaro was admitted to a hospital near Orlando to receive treatment for severe abdominal pain, likely stemming from the stabbing attack he suffered in 2018.
