Brazil’s Supreme Court rejects Bolsonaro’s bid to attend Trump’s inauguration | News about Jair Bolsonaro

As President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in the United States approaches, one world leader is unlikely to be in attendance: Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.

On Thursday, the Brazilian Supreme Court rejected a petition from the former president to return his passport, which was confiscated by the federal police in February.

Bolsonaro, who led Brazil from 2019 to 2022, faces multiple investigations and legal proceedings, including alleged efforts annul the results of the country’s 2022 presidential election.

The former far-right president, who was called “Trump from the Tropics”, rejected all the accusations against him. But the police believed there was a risk of flight.

On social media platform X, Bolsonaro’s office responded with outrage at the court’s decision, calling it evidence of “the law” — a term for using the legal system with guns.

“President Trump’s invitation to Bolsonaro symbolizes the deep ties between America’s two largest democracies,” the office wrote in its statement.

“The decision to ban Bolsonaro from this important event diminishes Brazil’s standing on the global stage and sends a worrying message about the state of democracy and justice in our country.”

The Supreme Court, however, ruled that Bolsonaro’s current role as a private citizen – without elected office – does not require him to travel to the US for the inauguration, as officials might do.

Brazil is expected to be represented at the inauguration by its ambassador to the US, Maria Luiza Viotti.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes signaled that the decision was based on the recommendation of Brazil’s chief prosecutor, Paulo Gonet Branco.

Branco indicated that there was a greater public interest in keeping Bolsonaro in Brazil than in allowing him to travel abroad, where he could escape justice.

De Moraes cited previous statements that Bolsonaro made to the media, in which he “considered the possibility of fleeing and seeking political asylum to avoid possible criminal liability in Brazil.”

Trump’s inauguration on January 20 is expected to bring together some of the world’s most prominent right-wing leaders, including Argentine President Javier Miley and British MP Nigel Farage.

Other expected guests include social media magnate Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and billionaire Elon Musk, a close adviser to the incoming US president.

In a social media post, the Republican majority on the Foreign Affairs Committee in the US House of Representatives offered their support to Bolsonaro following the court’s decision.

“Jair Bolsonaro is a friend of America and a patriot. He should be allowed to attend President Trump’s inauguration,” Republicans wrote.

But Bolsonaro has been mired in legal investigations since his defeat in the 2022 election.

In October of that year, the leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva narrowly beat Bolsonaro in the second round of the election, but Bolsonaro refused publicly admit defeat.

He had a long fueled false rumours that Brazil’s electronic voting machines were susceptible to fraud, even before a single ballot was cast.

After his loss, hundreds of his supporters flooded the streets to protest against the election results. Bolsonaro himself left the country for Florida ahead of Lula’s inauguration.

Soon after, on July 8, 2023, supporters of Bolsonaro attacked Three Powers Plaza in the capital city of Brasilia, destroying buildings representing the presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro returned to Brazil. But the court ruled that he he can’t run for office until 2030, as punishment for using government resources to undermine public confidence in elections.

The former president is also under surveillance embezzlementand he was the accused last year for publishing false information in the national database about his vaccination status against COVID-19.

In November, the federal police defendant Bolsonaro and 36 allies planning the “violent overthrow of the democratic state”.

Bolsonaro has denied any culpability in these cases. On Thursday, he drew a parallel between his situation and Trump, who has similarly accused his political opponents of “the law” and made false claims of election fraud.

“Lula’s government clearly learned from the mistakes in the United States, where the justice system was instrumentalized for political gain,” Bolsonaro wrote.

“But they didn’t act quickly enough there to destroy their political opponent, Donald Trump, and he overcame this judicial activism. I will too.”