Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro could “eventually” request authorization to stay for a “more permanent” period in the United States, where he has been since the end of last year, his lawyer Felipe Alexandre reported Monday.
“I think Florida will be his temporary home away from home,” Alexandre said. to the British newspaper Financial Times, according to the Brazilian newspaper O Globo.
“Now, with this situation, I think (Bolsonaro) needs some stability”added the lawyer in reference to the attack perpetrated by supporters of the former president to the headquarters of public powers in Brasilia on the 8th of this month.
Alexandre revealed that he advised Bolsonaro not to leave US territory while the authorization to stay there is processed.
Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, one of the sons of the former president, warned this weekend that the return of her father to Brazil “could be tomorrow, in six months or never”.
Bolsonaro arrived in Florida, in the southern United States, on December 30.two days before the end of his term, to avoid personally transferring the attributes of command to his successor, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
A few days later, a controversy arose about the situation of the ex-president in the United States, since it was assumed that when his term ended, the official passport with which he entered had expired.
However, sources close to the former president assured that this applied for and obtained a tourist visa that allows you to stay on US soil for six monthsaccording to the Financial Times and O Globo.
That visa could have been processed at the US embassy in Brasilia by Bolsonaro’s wife, Michelle, who returned to her country last week, according to newspapers.
Bolsonaro’s situation also generated controversy within the ruling Democratic Party in the United States.
On the 12th of this month, Forty-six Democratic congressmen asked the White House in writing to reassess Bolsonaro’s case and revoke “any diplomatic visa he may have.”
A few days earlier, more than 70 US and Brazilian congressmen condemned in a joint statement the attack by the “anti-democratic extreme right” in Brasilia and compared it to the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In this context, the governments of Brazil and the United States confirmed days ago that Lula will visit President Joe Biden at the White House on February 10.