Brazil’s ex-president Jair Bolsonaro has been released from the hospital after a short stay. Bolsonaro announced this himself on Twitter on Monday evening (local time). According to media reports, shortly after the riots of his supporters in his home country, the former president was treated in a hospital in the city of Orlando, Florida. According to the Brazilian newspaper “O Globo”, Bolsonaro had suffered from severe abdominal pain. At an election campaign event in September 2018, a mentally disturbed man stabbed Bolsonaro and inflicted serious abdominal injuries on him.
It’s not the first time that right-wing politicians have come to the clinic, even in politically critical situations.
The admission to the clinic came at the same time as demands in the USA that Bolsonaro must be expelled. “Bolsonaro shouldn’t be in Florida,” US Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressman, told CNN. “The United States should not be a haven for this authoritarian who fueled domestic terrorism in Brazil. He should be sent back to Brazil.”
Two days before the end of his term on New Year’s Eve, Bolsonaro flew to the United States with his family, where he has been in Florida since then. He had previously announced that he would not formally hand over the post to his successor, Lula.
According to various reports, Bolsonaro entered the United States on a visa for heads of state. The US State Department spokesman did not confirm this, but said anyone arriving on a foreign official visa must leave the US within 30 days or apply for an immigration status change.
Radical Bolsonaro supporters stormed the government district in the Brazilian capital Brasília on Sunday. They briefly took control of the country’s most important branches of government, penetrating Congress, the Supreme Court and the government seat, Palácio do Planalto. There they rioted, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. It took hours for the security forces to bring the situation back under control.
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro’s successor, head of state Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has promised to identify and apprehend those behind the action. “In the name of defending democracy, we will not be authoritarian towards anyone, but we will also not be lukewarm towards anyone,” Lula said on Brazilian television on Monday (local time) after meeting more than 20 governors in Brasília. He had previously also accused Bolsonaro of being involved in the uprising. He denied that.
