In the United States as in Brazil, Bolsonaro is threatened with legal action

Bolsonaro is still in Orlando, Florida with part of his family, including Eduardo, one of his sons (a radicalized far-right MP). In January, several members of the US Congress asked Joe Biden that the US government not allow the use of US territory as a “safe haven” for Jair Bolsonaro, who entered the US on a diplomatic visa while he was still president. Bolsonaro applied to change his immigration status in the country to tourist status, Joaquín Castro, a Democratic member of the US Congress from Texas, told BBC News Brazil that the visa application should be rejected. He said Bolsonaro, “is dangerous and should not be allowed to stay in the United States.” The US government says the visa process is not political, only bureaucratic, and that the Biden administration has no influence on the outcome.

The former Brazilian president sometimes travels to the United States. He has visited the Oklahoma Police Department and the city of Nashville, Tennessee. This week, he will arrive in Washington, D.C., where he and his son are expected to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference. Trump will also speak at the event next Saturday (04/03).

According to Eduardo Bolsonaro, Donald Trump and his father are expected to meet for the first time since he left the presidency at the event, which the former US president’s counsel’s office does not confirm.

Although they say they are close friends and have been living in the same state for two months, the two men have not yet met. But several journalists seriously doubt it. It is certain that they were in telephone contact during the January 8 coup attempt in Brasília.

“His (Bolsonaro’s) presence here in the United States is an affront, and he is associating with the extremists in our country. And while he parades here with Donald Trump, he does not pay for the damage he has caused to Brazil,” said Democratic Congressman Raúl Grijalva (Arizona).

He added: “The Biden Administration must support the Lula Administration to reverse [Bolsonaro’s] indigenous and environmental policies. The Amazon’s role in the climate is crucial for the whole world. And the protection of indigenous peoples is a moral imperative that all nations must brace, including the United States (…). While Bolsonaro parades in the United States, he is not paying for what he has done.” Several moderate Republican representatives agree.

In an interview with BBC News Brazil, Congressman Grijalva said that what has been seen with the Yanomami, whose photographs of extreme thinness have gone around the world, “forms an image of genocide (…). ‘The United States must do more than just stand by, watch and comment.’

Meanwhile, during his visit to Brasília (yesterday Monday 27/2) Joe Biden’s climate envoy, John Kerry, met with Brazilian Vice President, Geraldo Alckmin, and Environment Minister, Marina Silva, two weeks after Lula traveled to the US to meet with the American president. According to G. Alckmin said that during the meeting, Kerry and the Brazilian authorities specifically discussed, ‘projects in the humanitarian field, to support the health of indigenous peoples, such as the Yanomami.

During Lula’s bilateral visit to Washington on 10/2, Joe Biden promised the Brazilians an initial $50 million in aid of the Amazon. This figure has been deemed relatively low. The problem for Americans lies in the internal political process. Indeed, during last year’s midterm elections, the Democrats lost control of the House, which is responsible for approving the federal budget. It is up to Congress to give the green light to the Biden Administration for the transfer of funds to foreign countries, which has not yet happened in the case of Brazil’s environmental policy. This would explain, according to American diplomats interviewed by BBC News Brazil, the amount offered by the United States. This figure was considered relatively low. The problem for Americans is the domestic political process. In the mid-term elections late last year, the Democrats lost control of the House, which is responsible for approving the federal budget. It is up to Congress to give the green light to the Biden Administration to transfer funds to foreign countries, which has not yet happened in the case of Brazil’s environmental policy. This would explain, according to US diplomats interviewed by BBC News Brazil, the amount offered by the United States.