Bolsonaro, from Florida, condemns the assault: "Invasions are beyond the rule" | International

While his supporters stormed Congress, the Government Palace and the Supreme Court in Brasilia, the former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has waited several hours before speaking out. He has done so through several tweets, from Orlando (Florida), where he is: “Peaceful demonstrations, in accordance with the law, are part of democracy. However, the depredations and invasions of public buildings such as those that occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, are beyond the rule," said the ultra-rightist, referring to the popular protests in the final stretch of the Government of Dilma Rousseff and after her dismissal, when protesters walked on the roof of Congress.

"Throughout my tenure, I have always been within the four lines of the Constitution, respecting and defending the laws, democracy, transparency and our sacred freedom," he wrote in a second tweet. "Furthermore, I repudiate the accusations, without evidence, that the current head of the executive branch of Brazil attributes to me," he added in a third, which closes the thread, and with which he comes out of the words of the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has blamed him for the assault.

In the last week, images of the ex-president greeting his followers and also a photograph of him eating fried chicken at a KFC restaurant in Orlando (Florida) where he traveled on December 30 without giving many explanations, have been released. Bolsonaro arrived at Orlando's Signature Flight Support airport aboard the presidential plane and was transferred, escorted by his security service, to a mansion in the former Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter José Aldo da Silva, where he has been staying.

With the trip to the United States in the last days of his presidency, Bolsonaro avoided the drudgery of imposing the presidential sash and making the solemn transfer of power to his successor and rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro is subject to various investigations into his management, for which reason it has been speculated that his departure from the country seeks to avoid them.

The former president refused to expressly recognize Lula's victory in the second round of the Brazilian presidential elections a little over two months ago. After raising doubts about the cleanliness of the process before election day, he remained silent after October 30, when he was defeated in the second round of the presidential elections. He tore it up to ask his supporters who were dissatisfied with the electoral result to clear the roads that were blocked, then to warn that the Armed Forces were "the last obstacle against terrorism" and finally, before leaving for the United States, he said goodbye in tears. with a message from the Alvorada Palace.

Before the assault this Sunday, Bolsonaro condemned the violent acts, but at the same time he described his dissatisfied followers as "patriots", the same adjective that the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, has repeatedly used to refer to those who stormed the Capitol. in Washington on January 6, 2021.

In recent days, he has written different messages on both Twitter and Telegram to gloss the alleged achievements of his term. For example, the revaluation of the Brazilian real against the dollar in 2022 or the increase in investment in infrastructure.

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez this Sunday linked the assault in Brasilia to the one that occurred in the United States two years ago, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in Washington. “Almost two years to the day the United States Capitol was attacked by fascists, we see fascist movements abroad trying to do the same in Brazil. We must stand in solidarity with Lula's democratically elected government. The United States must stop granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida”, has written on his Twitter account. In reality, Bolsonaro does not have refugee status in the United States.

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