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Elected Democrats on Thursday urged President Joe Biden to revoke the visa of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is in Florida (south), denying that the United States does not provide shelter to the former leader of the far right.
American soil should not serve as a refuge for the former Brazilian president: this is the message of elected Democrats who on Thursday, January 12, asked Joe Biden to revoke Jair Bolsonaro’s visa. He has been living in Florida since the end of December.
“We must not allow Jair Bolsonaro or any other former Brazilian official to find refuge in the United States to escape justice for any possible crime committed during his mandate”, write these 41 elected representatives, all from the Democratic Party, in an open letter to President Biden , published Thursday.
They also call on the US government to “cooperate fully with any investigation by the Brazilian government if we are asked to do so” and to verify the legal status in the US of the former president, who arrived in the US as head of ‘Stat.
The elected representatives also demand that the Ministry of Justice investigate possible “support or financing” from the United States for the violent crimes on January 8, referring to the invasion and search that day of three emblematic places of power in Brasilia by supporters of the former President Bolsonaro.
A rather embarrassing stay for Washington
These events were reminiscent of the attack on the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. The far-right former president had left Brazil for Florida two days before the inauguration of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on January 1. He lives at the home of a former Brazilian MMA fighter. He was admitted to hospital on Sunday 8 January for an intestinal “adhesion”, and was released last Tuesday.
His stay in Florida puts the United States in a relatively embarrassing light, especially in reference to past hosting of controversial Latin American leaders. Asked on Wednesday, the head of US diplomacy Antony Blinken stated that Washington had not received any request from Brazil for Jair Bolsonaro, but that he would process such a request “quickly”. Joe Biden has invited his Brazilian colleague Lula to visit him in Washington in early February.
With AFP
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