Former President Jair Bolsonaro arrived back in Brazil on Thursday, March 30, after a three-month stay in Florida, seeking a new role on the political scene as authorities in the capital braced for the far-right populist’s return.
Bolsonaro left Brazil just before the end of his presidential term. In so doing, he broke with tradition by declining to hand the presidential sash to his successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who won the October election with the narrowest finish since Brazil’s return to democracy over three decades earlier.
While in the US, Bolsonaro mostly kept a low profile, although he delivered several speeches to Brazilian ex-pats and conservatives, including at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland.
For the first time in 30 years, the lawmaker-turned-president does not hold elected office. "I’m without a mandate, but I’m not retired," Bolsonaro told television network Jovem Pan on Monday.
The Federal District's security secretariat mobilized hundreds of police officers and the Esplanade of Ministries was closed to prevent gatherings of Bolsonaro's supporters.
A horde of his supporters stormed and ransacked the capital's most important government buildings on January 8, one week after Lula took office, seeking to oust the new president from power.