Bolsonaro says he could return to Brazil in a few weeks

BRASILIA (AP) — Former President Jair Bolsonaro said on Saturday he intended to return to Brazil “in the coming weeks.”

This is the first time Bolsonaro has made a public statement about his comeback. The right-wing politician is in the United States after arriving in Orlando, Florida on December 31, a day before his left-wing rival Luis Inácio Lula da Silva takes the presidency.

Saturday’s event at an evangelical church in Florida was entirely in Portuguese for a Brazilian crowd of Bolsonaro supporters living abroad, and was organized by the right-wing collective Yes Brazil USA. The ex-president received acclaim throughout the event.

Bolsonaro’s possible return to Brazil has sparked speculation in recent weeks about when he would do so, although various investigations related to possible illegal behavior are hanging over him.

Bolsonaro entered the United States on a one-month diplomatic visa which expired on January 31. He was accompanied by his wife and a team of presidential advisers, all of whom left Florida last month.

Bolsonaro’s lawyers recently told the Brazilian press that they had processed a tourist visa for the former president to extend his stay in the United States.

Amid speculation over Bolsonaro’s plans, one of his sons, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, told the Brazilian press he did not know when his father might return.

“It could be tomorrow, in six months, maybe never. I don’t know. He is resting,” he added.

For the first time in his more than three-decade political career as a lawmaker and then as president, Bolsonaro no longer enjoys the special legal protection under which he could only be tried by the federal Supreme Court.

Bolsonaro is the subject of four investigations, which had been in the highest court but were already returned to ordinary court last week.

One of the investigations aims to determine whether Bolsonaro played a role in inciting the January 8 riots, in which his supporters raided government offices in Brasilia to demand the reversal of their electoral defeat by to Lula.

Investigators are also looking into who organized and funded the massive gathering of Bolsonaro supporters who came to the capital from various parts of Brazil.

One of the investigations of the Brazilian justice is to determine who was responsible for inciting the crimes, and who paid people to go to Brasilia.