Brazilian former President hospitalized; his supporters storm congress. Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted a picture of himself on Monday from a hospital bed in Orlando, Florida, as US legislators demanded that he leave the US after his supporters attacked Brazil’s federal buildings.
Bolsonaro claimed he was seeking treatment for issues stemming from a long-ago stabbing wound.
His wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, earlier claimed in an Instagram post that he had been hospitalised on Monday due to abdominal “discomfort” brought on by wounds sustained in a knife assault at a political rally in 2018.
After hundreds of Bolsonaro’s followers invaded the capital city of Brasilia on Sunday, vandalising government buildings and receiving harsh criticism from the world community, Bolsonaro was taken to the hospital. According to Brazilian Justice Minister Flavio, 1,500 persons have been detained as of Monday.
Brazilian President former hospitalized; his supporters storm congress. The former leader condemned the attack in a tweet on Sunday, but experts suggest that his persistent and erroneous allegations of election fraud in the lead-up to the election in October worked to inflame his followers’ resentment. They had been camped out in the capital for months before to the violence on Sunday, and as a result, the security perimeter around the congressional building had been strengthened.
According to CNN Brasil, Bolsonaro left Brazil for the US on December 30 — just two days before his successor, President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, took office. He was permitted to go with five government employees to Miami from January 1 through 30.
Although it’s not obvious on what grounds Bolsonaro may be removed from the US, a number of US senators have demanded his extradition.
On Sunday, Dino said at that stage there were no legal grounds to investigate the former head of state in connection with the riots. And US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Monday the US government had “not yet received any requests for information or for action” in relation to Sunday’s attacks.
Price declined to confirm that Bolsonaro had entered the US on an A1 visa — which is granted to heads of state and only valid while they are in that position — but said that if such a visa holder “is no longer engaged in official business on behalf of their government, it is incumbent on that visa holder to depart the US or to request a change to another immigration status within 30 days.”
It’s unsure whether Bolsonaro has been released from the hospital or how long he plans to stay in the US.
The stabbing wounded caused the former leader to visit the hospital a number of times throughout the years. During his 2018 campaign, Bolsonaro was carried through a crowd in Juiz de Fora, a city in the southern state of Minas Gerais, on the shoulders of supporters.
At the time, Flavio Bolsonaro tweeted that his father had lost a lot of blood and that the wounds had “reached part of his liver, lung, and intestine.”
In January 2019, Bolsonaro underwent surgery to remove a colostomy bag fitted after he was stabbed.
He was again hospitalized in July 2021 after feeling abdominal pain and suffering persistent hiccups for over a week.
