The far-right president flew to Florida overnight from Friday to Saturday, two days before the inauguration of his hated leftist successor Lula.
Jair Bolsonaro, who has never congratulated Lula on his victory, is not expected to be present at the investiture ceremonies in Brasilia on Sunday to wrap his successor with the presidential sash. In the night between Friday and Saturday, the far-right head of state left Brazil to land in the United States. It should be the first time that an outgoing Brazilian president has not made this formal and symbolic gesture since 1985.
That year, the last president of the military dictatorship established in 1964, General João Figueiredo, refused to attend the investiture ceremony of his successor, José Sarney.
“I will 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 on Friday evening, O Globo, CNN Brasil, Estadao and Estadao Media reported, on UOL news site. “I’m flying, I’ll be back soon”, the far-right head of state told CNN Brasil. His military plane, identified by the code BRS1, landed in the city of Orlando in the night between Friday and Saturday, according to the specialized site Flightaware.
The general secretariat of the presidency has authorized the departure of members of the “future ex-president’s” security personnel from the territory for a trip to Miami “from 1 to 30 January 2023”, according to the Official Gazette on Friday. Vice-President Hamilton Mourao serves as chairman and will deliver a speech this Saturday evening, RNR national radio announced.
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 consultancy firm Dharma, the departure of Jair Bolsonaro for the United States takes on the aspects “of a loss” as well as“a denial of reality”. But it’s also”an attempt to delegitimize the outcome (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 1st. […] We have a great future ahead of us.”assured Bolsonaro. “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 I’d get this far”the outgoing president said in tears, before declaring: “At least we delayed the collapse of Brazil for four years with this nefarious leftist ideology.” “I gave the best of myself”, continued Jair Bolsonaro whose majority of analysts consider the balance sheet of the mandate to be bad.
Outside his official Alvorada Palace residence, protesters shouted after the live broadcast “coward!”, “shame!”.
The president condemned for the first time an attempted attack by his supporter who planted an explosive device in a tanker near Brasilia airport to “create chaos” before the enthronement of Lula. “Nothing justifies this attempt at terrorism”he hammered, without however condemning the camps of his supporters in front of the army commands, which pose a threat to the progress of the investiture for which security has been tightened.
