Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro plans to return to Brazil in March to lead the political opposition to his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and defend himself against allegations that he incited attacks by protesters on government buildings last month. “The right-wing movement is not dead and will live on,” Bolsonaro told al Wall Street Journal in his first interview since leaving Brazil for Florida late last year after a narrow election defeat to Lula.
The former Brazilian president explained that he will work with his supporters in Congress and in state governments to promote what he called pro-business policies and to combat abortion, gun control and other policies that he says are contrary to family values. Bolsonaro, who has not admitted defeat, seemed to moderate his criticism of the election result.
“Losing is part of the electoral process,” he said. “I’m not saying there was fraud, but the electoral process was biased.” Brazilian prosecutors accused the former president of inciting riots in January with social media posts warning of election fraud. The ‘people’s captain’, who was in Florida when the riots occurred, said he was innocent and no wrongdoing, welcoming an investigation into January’s events. “I wasn’t even there, and they want to blame me!” he remarked.
Bolsonaro said he was appalled by the violence, which he condemned in a Twitter post at the time, but believes there has not been an attempt to overthrow the new government. “Coup d’etat? What coup? Where was the commander? Where were the troops, where were the bombs? », he asked himself. Now he can’t wait to go home, even though he acknowledges that there are legal risks. “A jail order can come out of nowhere,” he said. As for the future, he confessed that he is still undecided whether to run again for the presidency of Brazil, admitting that the job has been “much more difficult” than he imagined.