A president who turns the page quickly… Jair Bolsonaro left Brazil for the United States on Friday, two days before the end of his mandate and the enthronement of his hated leftist successor Lula in Brasilia, several media reported.
Bolsonaro, who never congratulated Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his victory, should therefore not be present on Sunday at the investiture ceremonies in Brasilia of the new president, who had to wear the presidential sash according to protocol. When questioned by AFP, the presidency did not want to confirm this information. Vice-President Hamilton Mourao is interim president and will speak on Saturday evening, RNR national radio announced.
“I’m flying, I’ll be back soon”
After saying goodbye to his supporters live on social media but making no mention of a departure, Jair Bolsonaro boarded an Air Force plane at around 2 p.m. (5 p.m. GMT), O Globo media reported, CNN Brasil, Estadao and the UOL news site. “I’m flying, I’ll be back soon,” the far-right head of state told CNN Brasil.
A motorcade of presidential cars left Alvorada’s official residence complex in Brasilia, an AFP photographer noted, without being able to confirm that Bolsonaro was in one of the vehicles. The general secretariat of the presidency has authorized the departure from the territory of personnel responsible for the security of the “future former president” for a trip to Miami “from 1 to 30 January 2023”, reads the Official Gazette on Friday.
It should be the first time since 1985 that an outgoing Brazilian president has decided not to wear the presidential sash around his successor. That year, the last president of the military dictatorship established in 1964, General João Figueiredo, refused to participate in the investiture ceremony of his successor, José Sarney.
Signs of depression
Since the narrow victory of Lula, his sworn enemy, on October 30, Jair Bolsonaro has lived almost as a recluse in Brasilia and closed himself in silence, showing various signs of depression.
For Créomar de Souza, founder of the consulting firm Dharma, Bolsonaro’s departure for the United States takes on the aspects of “a leak” but also of “a denial of reality”. But it is also an attempt to delegitimize the result (of the elections) and the next government”, adds the analyst.
” The best of me “
Earlier in the day, the Brazilian president greeted his supporters, speaking for the first time since his electoral defeat on social networks – where he had been omnipresent for four years – and wiping away a few tears.
“The world will not stop turning on January 1 (…) We have a great future ahead of us,” Bolsonaro assured. “We lose the battles, but we don’t lose the war”.
He has spoken directly to his followers who continue to camp outside barracks or army headquarters in Brasilia and other cities to call for military intervention to prevent Lula from taking office. “I never thought it would go that far,” the outgoing president wept, before declaring: “At least we have delayed Brazil’s collapse by four years with this harmful leftist ideology.” “I gave the best of myself,” continued Jair Bolsonaro, most of whose analysts consider the results of the mandate bad.
Condemns the attempted assassination of one of his supporters
In front of his official residence in the Alvorada Palace, protesters following the live broadcast shouted “coward! “, ” shame ! “.
The president condemned for the first time an assassination attempt by one of his supporters who planted an explosive device in a tanker near Brasilia airport to ‘create chaos’ before Lula took office. “Nothing justifies this attempt at terrorism,” he said, without however condemning the camps of his supporters in front of the army headquarters, which pose a threat to the progress of the investiture for which security has been strengthened.
