The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, considered his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, “unbalanced” on Thursday, but made it clear that there will be no systematic persecution against him.
for squidBolsonaro suffers from a “mental imbalance”.
“He is a genocide who after losing the elections locked himself in his house” and stopped governing, warned the president, who assumed the head of state on the 1st of this month after defeating the then PL candidate.
On the other hand, Lula stressed that “this is the first time in the history of Brazil that an elected president begins to govern before” taking officereferring to a series of negotiations that he faced with parliament in December to modify the 2023 budget.
Despite his attacks on Bolsonaro, Lula assured that his government will not carry out a systematic persecution “against anyone.”
“I am not going to do that during my term; my term is different; I am not going to be fighting with Bolsonaro, because my mandate is to fight against hunger, I don’t want to give the idea that there is persecution,” concluded the president, according to the ANSA news agency.
A group of 46 Democratic congressmen asked the president of the United States, Joe Biden, on Thursday to revoke the visa of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, on the assumption that he could have instigated the violent assault that his supporters perpetrated last Sunday against the headquarters of the three powers of his country.
The group urged to “investigate any action taken on US soil to aid the insurrection and to revoke any US visa” that Bolsonaro has.reported the parliamentarians in a statement.
The former president traveled to the United States shortly before the inauguration on January 1 of his successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and it is assumed that he was still in Orlando today, where he was hospitalized for intestinal problems before being released on Tuesday.
When you entered the United States as president, you may have used an A-1 visa, reserved for people on diplomatic or official visits.
“As you are no longer the President of Brazil or currently serving as a Brazilian civil servant, we ask that you reassess your status in the country to determine if there is a legal basis for your stay and to revoke any diplomatic visa you may have.” the congressmen claimed.
“We must not allow Bolsonaro or any other former Brazilian official to take refuge in the United States to escape justice for any crimes they committed during their tenure, and we must fully cooperate with any investigation by the Brazilian government into their actions, if requested.” they wrote.
In this sense, they also asked the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to hold accountable anyone based in Florida “who may have financed or supported” the violence last Sunday.
That day, protesters violently stormed Congress, the presidential palace and the headquarters of the supreme court, where they demanded the reinstatement of Bolsonaro through a military coup before causing extensive damage.
Biden gave his “unwavering” support for Brazilian democracy during a phone call with Lula, whom he invited to the White House in February.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had not received any requests from Brazil related to eventual extradition, but would respond “quickly” if it does.
Until this Thursday, Bolsonaro was not charged or prosecuted in Brazil for the incidents on Sunday.
“Regarding people, we’re now talking about people who are private citizens” and “it’s not appropriate for us to comment on anyone’s visa status,” Blinken added.
The United States experienced scenes similar to those of Sunday in Brazil when supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in January 2021 to try to prevent the validation of Biden’s electoral victory, in an unprecedented episode.
In the letter, the congressmen accuse Bolsonaro of having threatened democratic institutions during his tenure and of having promoted the idea that the electronic voting system was fraudulent, the AFP news agency reported.
“His spread of disinformation, his refusal to call on his supporters to accept the election results, and his active calls to mobilize against democratic institutions incited thousands of protesters to storm government buildings and engage in violent acts,” they concluded.
