The eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro said his father isn’t fleeing Brazilian justice by applying for a six-month US visa and that he would return home if called by authorities.
(Bloomberg) — The eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro said his father isn’t fleeing Brazilian justice by applying for a six-month US visa and that he would return home if called by authorities.
“He has nothing to hide, he has nothing to be afraid of and he’s not there to get away from anyone,” Flavio Bolsonaro told journalists as he arrived in the senate on Wednesday for the beginning of the congressional year. “If he needs to be here for some reason, he will be. But he doesn’t have to right now.”
Bolsonaro applied for a six-month tourist visa last week, showing he’s in no rush to leave Florida, where he traveled to just two days before the end of his mandate to skip Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s Jan. 1 inauguration. At home, he is under investigation on multiple fronts, including his alleged involvement in the Jan. 8 riots by supporters who refused to accept his loss in October’s election.
Flavio said he expects his father to return to Brazil “soon,” although he couldn’t predict when.
Bolsonaro last night participated in an event in Orlando with supporters who paid between $10 and $50 each to see him, and vowed to remain active in Brazil’s politics. He’s due to attend a similar event on Feb. 3 in Miami, at one of Donald Trump’s golf courses.
Read More: Bolsonaro Resurfaces in Orlando, Vowing to Stay in Politics
AG Immigration, the firm that is assisting Bolsonaro in the process of converting his diplomatic visa into a visitor visa, said in a statement that the president isn’t taking part in unpaid activities that could pose a problem for his application.
“Indeed, he can’t work or perform any type of paid activity in the US, and AG Immigration has been providing guidance to ensure that no US immigration rules are broken,” it said in the statement.
Former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro, who was also in the senate for the inauguration of allied lawmakers, said her husband doesn’t fear being arrested.
“He isn’t the one who has to be afraid of prison,” she said, without specifying who should be afraid instead.
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