Sao Paulo Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro arrived in the United States on Wednesday and announced that he is the legitimate leader of Brazil. He claimed that he was a victim of the Supreme Court and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s electoral coup. President Lula won the election by more than 4 million votes.
Bolsonaro arrived in Miami from Brazil on Wednesday. He thanked Argentina’s leader Javier Miley and US President Donald Trump for helping him on his journey.
In an open letter initially posted on ‘X’, Bolsonaro described himself as the ‘elect president’, later he removed the post and posted another post, where it says ‘Legitimate leader of Brazil’.
In that post, he said, “I want to say not only to my six million voters, but to all the Brazilian people that I am the leader.” The criminals who stole the Brazilian elections are part of such a criminal organization that has imposed a dictatorship.
Lula’s victory has been recognized by Brazil’s federal electoral court, world leaders, international observers and Bolsonaro’s own party. However, Bolsonaro has not accepted defeat. The statement issued by the head of the Election Commission, Casio Nunes Marques, states that the Brazilian elections were completed in full compliance with the legal and constitutional requirements.
Trump did not comment
Journalists at Joint Base Andrews asked Trump for a response to Bolsonaro’s comments. Trump refused to respond. However, he said that the election results were surprising. He had given a similar expression before.
Bolsonaro’s announcement has increased the risk of problems in US-Brazil relations. America wants to improve relations with Brazil, which has the world’s second largest rare mineral (rare earth) reserves. Because, until now, America has to depend on its strategic competitor China for rare minerals.
However, Trump’s relationship with President Lula is not very good. Earlier, Lula accused Washington of conspiring with them to return the Bolsonaro family to power. The US has been saying that it has not interfered in Brazil’s internal affairs.
Earlier, Flavio’s father, Jair Bolsonaro, also came to America after being defeated by Lula in 2022. He also did not accept defeat at that time. After staying in America for some time and returning to Brazil, after the election results were announced, he was arrested on the charge of “conspiracy” with the intention of seizing power. He has been sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison for this charge.
So far, the US State Department, Brazilian President Lula’s office and the court have not responded to Flavio’s announcement. Reuters