The Biden administration is under growing pressure from leftists in Latin America as well as U.S. lawmakers to expel Jair Bolsonaro from a post-presidential retreat in Florida following his supporters' brazen attack on Brazil's capital over the weekend.
But the far-right ex-president may pre-empt any plans for such a stinging rebuke. On Tuesday, he told a Brazilian media outlet that he would push up his return home, originally scheduled for late January, after being hospitalized with abdominal pains stemming from a 2018 stabbing.
His visit to the Sunshine state went largely unnoticed in the U.S. until Sunday's attack by thousands of die-hard supporters who had been camping for weeks outside a military base in Brasilia, refusing to accept Bolsonaro's narrow defeat in an October runoff. Their invasion of Brazil's congress and presidential palace left behind shattered glass, smashed computers and slashed artwork.
"Nearly two years to the day the U.S. Capitol was attacked by fascists, we see fascist movements abroad attempt to do the same in Brazil," the New York City lawmaker said. "The U.S. must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida."Biden has never had a close relationship with Bolsonaro, who made common cause with Trump's top allies on the far right.
Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was similarly circumspect, saying only that any request from Brazil's government related to Bolsonaro would be evaluated, taking into consideration legal precedent. Typically, the U.S. is reluctant to discuss visa issues out of privacy concerns.
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