Page 3 - Jair Bolsonaro

'Not afraid of any trial': Bolsonaro over claims he plotted to remain prez

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Saturday he was not afraid of any trial, a day after documents released by the Supreme Court revealed that two top military leaders said the populist plotted to remain in power after losing the 2022 election. Bolsonaro avoided commenting on the content of any of several investigations targeting him, but claimed he was a victim of persecution for causing trouble for the country's political left. Authorities in February confiscated Bolsonaro's passport. I could very well be in another country, but I decided to come back here at all costs. I'm not afraid of any trial, as long as the judges are impartial, Bolsonaro said in Rio de Janeiro, speaking at a campaign event in the city's mayoral race. The court documents released Saturday included testimony from Bolsonaro's former Army and Air Force commanders to police, who said they refused the former leader's demands and would arrest him if he tried to stay in power. The testimonies include th

Bolsonaro supporters stage demonstration to defend him amid investigations

Tens of thousands of supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro rallied in Brazil's biggest city Sunday to defend him against legal challenges that could put him in jail. The far-right leader said in a speech that he seeks "pacification to erase the past, taking a more conciliatory tone than when he was in office. Bolsonaro is seeking to show his base is resilient as he is being investigated by federal police over his alleged role in the January 8, 2023, attacks on government buildings by his supporters over his election loss. He wants the dozens of people still in jail for those incidents to get pardons. Bolsonaro is also accused of illegally receiving jewels from Saudi Arabia during his presidency. Six blocks of Paulista Avenue filled with Bolsonaro supporters, many of them saying that he is being persecuted by Brazil's Supreme Court and that President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva unfairly won his narrow victory in the 2022 election. Some also carried Israeli flags as a show of .

A yr after pro-Bolsonaro riots, dozens of arrests, Brazil still recovering

Brazil's Congress has everything ready to open an exhibit Monday featuring pieces including a tapestry crafted by renowned artist Burle Marx and a replica of the country's constitution dated 1988. The display is notable not because of the rarity of the objects, but because they are the living memory of one of the grimmest episodes in Brazil's recent history: As unprecedented riots in support of former President Jair Bolsonaro took place on January 8, 2023, in government buildings in the capital Brasilia, the tapestry was damaged and the replica constitution was taken. Many saw the rioting as part of a failed attempt by Bolsonaro to remain in power following his election loss. A year and hundreds of arrests later, Brazil is still recovering. Brazil's society still doesn't know how to handle what happened, there's no consensus, said Creomar de Souza, founder of political risk consultancy Dharma Politics. Brazil's society is now in extreme opposites. And parts of those opposites are in

Bolsonaro should be charged with attempting a coup: Congressional panel

A Brazilian congressional panel on Wednesday accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of instigating the country's Jan 8 riots and recommended that he be charged with attempting to stage a coup. An inquiry panel of senators and representatives mostly allied with the current leftist President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva who narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in last fall's election voted 20-11 to adopt the damning report drafted by Sen. Eliziane Gama. The move was largely symbolic for Bolsonaro because it amounts to a recommendation for police and prosecutors to investigate, and federal law enforcement officials separately have already been investigating his possible role in inciting the Jan 8 uprising. Bolsonaro has denied involvement in the rioting, which took place more than a week after the right-wing leader had quietly left the country to stay in Florida while refusing to attend Lula's inauguration. It's completely biased, Bolsonaro said Wednesday of the inquiry, in comments to reporter

Brazil's ex-President Bolsonaro denies proposing coup to military leaders

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has denied a report claiming he consulted with top military leaders on staging a coup to stop Luiz Incio Lula da Silva from assuming the presidency last January. Three members of Bolsonaro's legal team said in a statement posted on social media channels Thursday that the far-right leader "never took any measure that conflicted the boundaries and assurances established by the constitution". Earlier in the day, the newspaper O Globo reported that a former Bolsonaro aide said in plea bargain testimony that the then president talked with the commanders of Brazil's army, navy and air force about overthrowing the results of last year's election won by Lula. The newspaper did not identify the sources for its story. Bolsonaro's legal team also said that he did not take any action that violated the law during his 2019-2022 administration. Bolsonaro has been targeted by several investigations since he left office, including one looking into whether

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Brazilian hacker claims Bolsonaro asked him to hack into the voting system

A Brazilian hacker claimed at a Congressional hearing on Thursday that former President Jair Bolsonaro wanted him to hack into the country's electronic voting system to expose its alleged weaknesses ahead of the 2022 presidential election. Walter Delgatti Neto did not provide any evidence for his claim to the parliamentary commission of inquiry. But his detailed testimony raises new allegations against the former far-right leader, investigated for his role in the Jan. 8 riots in the capital city of Brasilia. Delgatti also told lawmakers that he met in person with Bolsonaro and told the former president it was not possible for him to hack the electronic voting system. The Associated Press has reached out to Bolsonaro's lawyers who have not yet responded. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoings. Bolsonaro's political nemesis, leftist Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, won the Oct. 30, 2022 election with just 50.9% of the votes. According to Delgatti, Bolsonaro had wanted the attempted hack to .

Bolsonaro got money from $70,000 sale of jewellery gifts, police alleges

Brazil's federal police on Friday alleged former President Jair Bolsonaro received cash from the nearly $70,000 sale of two luxury watches he received as gifts from Saudi Arabia while in office, posing another potential blow for the embattled far-right leader. Earlier in the day, officers raided the homes and offices of several people purportedly involved in the case, including a four-star army general. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing involving the gifts. A Federal Police officer said the force is seeking authorisation to access the personal banking and financial information of Bolsonaro. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation, said the Federal Police had asked for help from the FBI. Bolsonaro's lawyers said in a statement that he would authorise Brazil's judiciary to have access to his banking records. President Bolsonaro has never embezzled or misplaced any public assets, it said. The case adds to the legal jeopardy facing Bolsonaro for

Jair Bolsonaro to return to Brazil for 1st time since losing election

The far-right politician's return is also for the first time since his supporters stormed the SC, Congress and presidential palace on Jan 8, which came weeks after weeks after protests

Brazil's right-wing movement persists without ex-President Bolsonaro

Brazil's defeated former president, Jair Bolsonaro, was in Florida this month when his supporters tried but failed to overthrow the country's young democracy

Former Brazil minister arrested in connection with Jan 8 capital riots

Torres is suspected of intentionally failing to stop the capital attack even when he had the knowledge, the report said, adding that he left the country before the riots broke out

Brazil's Supreme Court agrees to include Bolsonaro in riots probe

The Supreme Court of Brazil has agreed to include former President Jair Bolsonaro in its probe into the riots on January 8 staged by his thousands of his radical supporters in capital Brasilia.

Brazil insurrection: How so many people came to attack their own govt

Bolsonarism is a profoundly anti-democratic movement that conflates elements of the US far-right and Brazil's long history of social inequality and militarism into a whole new digital language

Brazil mega-protest against Lula da Silva fizzles as authorities crackdown

Skittish Brazilian authorities on Wednesday spared no effort to boost security in the face of a social media flyer promoting a "mega-protest to retake power" in two dozen cities. Whether because of preventative measures adopted or not, the supposed uprising was a dud. Less than 10 protesters showed along Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach; there were more journalists in attendance, plus 29 police vehicles. On Brasilia's esplanade surrounded by federal government buildings, authorities had designated an area for protest and stationed police and national guard troops. Just one couple showed, dressed in the same Brazil soccer jerseys that thousands of rioters wore four days earlier. "We were surprised to be the only ones here today," said Eunice Carvalho, a 58-year-old housewife joined by her husband. "People got scared after the imprisonments, which were excessive." Speaking to journalists in Brasilia earlier, the federal appointee who has assumed control of the capital's security sai

Brazilian Authorities investigate who was behind uprising in capital

Brazilian authorities said Monday that they were looking into who may have been behind the shocking uprising that sent protesters storming into the nation's halls of power in a riot that had striking similarities to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In an unprecedented display for Latin America's largest nation, thousands of supporters of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro swarmed into Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace on Sunday. Many of them said they wanted the Brazilian army to restore the far-right Bolsonaro to power and oust the newly inaugurated leftist president, Luiz Incio Lula da Silva. Also on Monday, police broke down a pro-Bolsonaro encampment outside a military building and detained some 1,200 people there, the justice ministry's press office told The Associated Press. The federal police press office said the force already plans to indict roughly 1,000 people. Lula and the heads of the Supreme Court, Senate and Lower House signed a lette

As Brazil reels from riots, Bolsonaro finds rental home in Florida

As Brazil reels from mobs of rioters swarming its seats of power, its former leader has decamped to a Florida resort, where droves of supporters flocked to cheer on their ousted president. Devotees have traveled in recent days to the temporary home of Jair Bolsonaro, a gated community with towering waterslides, for a chance to see him. He signed autographs, hugged children and took selfies with adoring masses, some sporting Make Brazil Great Again shirts. I will always support him, said 31-year-old Rafael Silva, who left Brazil eight years ago and now installs flooring in central Florida, where he stood outside Bolsonaro's rental home Monday. He was the best for the country. By early afternoon, the handful of supporters in yellow jerseys dissipated as word spread that Bolsonaro was hospitalized with abdominal pain. His wife, Michelle, said on social media that he had been hospitalized for observation due to abdominal discomfort related to a 2018 stabbing that has led to multiple ...

Brazil, Jan 6 in US: Parallel attacks but not identical, says diplomat

Enraged protesters broke into government buildings that are the very symbol of their country's democracy. Driven by conspiracy theories about their candidate's loss in the last election, they smashed windows, sifted through the desks of lawmakers and trashed the highest offices in the land in a rampage that lasted hours before order could be restored. Sunday's attack by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil's capital drew immediate parallels with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by former President Donald Trump's backers two years and two days earlier. The two populist former presidents shared a close political alliance with an overlapping cast of supporters some of whom helped spread Trump's lies about losing his re-election due to voter fraud and later parroted Bolsonaro's similar claims after his own re-election loss last fall. Bolsonaro was among the last world leaders to recognize Joe Biden's victory in 2020. The U.S. example of election denying a

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Bolsonaro denounces violence after supporters storm Brazil's govt buildings

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro denounced the "depredations and invasions of public buildings" in Brasilia, after his supporters stormed key government buildings

Brazil admn clear govt offices of protesters, at least 170 arrested

Executive secretary of the Brazilian Justice Minister vowed to punish all those involved in breaching the government buildings