Biden’s Latest Hot Potato Is Pomme de Bolsonaro

The hot potato on President Biden’s plate when he hosts President Lula da Silva in February may well involve his guest’s demand to interrupt Jair Bolsonaro’s vacation at Orlando and expel, or even arrest, the former Brazilian president. The White House announced that Mr. Biden will host Mr. da Silva in Washington on February 10. The duo will discuss America’s support of Brazil’s democracy, and how they can “work together to promote inclusion and democratic values in the region,” the press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said Tuesday. Brasilia has launched an investigation into allegations that Mr. Bolsonaro encouraged a January 8 attack on Brazil’s democratic institutions. This week the beleaguered former president requested an American tourist visa to stay in Florida, where he has been since December, for an additional six months.Mr. Bolsonaro’s attempt to remain in America could backfire, though. If the former president is found guilty of involvement in the January 8 mayhem, he could be arrested in Florida, a professor of international relations at the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Regiane Nitsch Bressan, told the Sun. In America, she said, there is “low tolerance for terrorist attacks,” though there has been no finding of terrorism in connection with January 8.Shortly after the January 8 events, Mr. Biden called Mr. da Silva and “condemned the violence” and the “attack on democratic institutions” in Brazil. During the phone call, the leaders agreed to work jointly “on the issues confronting” both countries. Mr. Bolsonaro had already flown to Orlando before the January 1 inauguration ceremony of his successor, President Lula da Silva, and before the January 8 protests. Since then, he has been living in a house at Kissimmee, Florida, near Disney World. According to Mr. Bolsonaro’s lawyer, Felipe Alexandre, co-founder of AG Immigration, Florida will be Mr. Bolsonaro’s “temporary home” outside Brazil, as “he needs some stability,” the Financial Times reported.In a statement to The New York Sun, AG Immigration confirmed that Mr. Alexandre is “representing” Mr. Bolsonaro in his six-month visa application process and that it looks forward “to achieving the highest level of satisfaction and desired results” for its client.“AG Immigration works tirelessly on behalf of clients seeking a better life for themselves and their families in the United States,” the statement said. American immigration officials received the request for the B1/B2 tourism visa on Friday, the BBC reported.AG Immigration did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment on whether the investigations held in Brazil could interfere with Mr. Bolsonaro’s visa application.Mr. Bolsonaro could come back to Brazil “tomorrow, in six months, or never,” his son, Flavio Bolsonaro, a Brazilian senator, told the newspaper O Globo. Up to now Mr. Bolsonaro has been staying in Florida on an A-1 visa, which allows diplomats and heads of state to stay for 30 days. At Brasilia, Mr. Da Silva likened the January 8 takeover of Brazil’s Supreme Court, the Congress, and the Planalto Presidential Palace to “genocide.” According to police reports, more than 1,500 supporters of Mr. Bolsonaro were arrested in connection with the event. Mr. da Silva accused Mr. Bolsonaro of stimulating and encouraging the riot. “Bolsonaro should not be in Florida,” Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat of the Sunshine State, told CNN days after the attack. “The United States should not be giving refuge to this authoritarian who has inspired domestic terrorism in Brazil. He should be sent back to Brazil.”Mr. Castro also accused Mr. Bolsonaro of “using Trump’s playbook” to “inspire domestic terrorists.” During the 2022 presidential elections, Mr. Bolsonaro claimed election fraud. Following his defeat, supporters began protesting the results in various cities in Brazil. Another Democrat, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also encouraged the Department of State to “cease granting refuge” to Mr. Bolsonaro in Florida.A few hours after the attack, Mr Bolsonaro said that “peaceful and lawful demonstrations are part of democracy.” At the same time, he added, “I repudiate the accusations, without evidence, attributed to me by the current head of the executive of Brazil.” On January 12, about 50 American Congress members sent a letter to Mr. Biden, asking him to “cooperate fully” with the Brazilian government in “investigating any role Mr. Bolsonaro played in the events of January 8.”The January 8 attacks against Brazilian government institutions were “built upon months of pre- and post-election fabrications by Mr. Bolsonaro,” the letter says. “We must not allow Mr. Bolsonaro or any other former Brazilian officials to take refuge in the United States to escape justice.”Yet, Mr. Alexandre told the Financial Times that there is no evidence that Mr. Bolsonaro’s actions were related to the attacks in Brasilia. “If you’re going to kick someone out of the country, you have to have legal justification to do so,” Mr. Alexandre said.

Biden’s Latest Hot Potato Is Pomme de Bolsonaro

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