“Severe abdominal pain”
Bolsonaro hospitalized in Florida
1/9/2023, 9:21 p.m
After riots in Brasilia, some Democrats are demanding that the far-right ex-president be evicted from his refuge in Florida. In Washington it is said that an official extradition request will be taken seriously. But Bolsonaro is now in the hospital with abdominal pain.
One day after his supporters stormed Congress and other official buildings in Brazil, far-right ex-President Jair Bolsonaro was taken to a hospital in the US state of Florida. As the daily newspaper “O Globo” reported, Bolsonaro was admitted to the Advent Health Celebration Hospital in Orlando because of “severe abdominal pain”. Since a knife attack in 2018, Bolsonaro has struggled with health problems. He has since been admitted to the emergency room and operated on multiple times. His wife Michelle said on Instagram that her husband is “under observation at the hospital with abdominal discomfort resulting from the 2018 knife attack.”
The 67-year-old left Brazil for the United States two days before the end of his term in office, refusing the traditional handover of the presidential sash to his successor, the left-leaning Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Since then he is said to have lived in the house of a Brazilian ex-martial artist in Orlando.
Hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters broke into the congress building, the presidential palace and the seat of the Supreme Court in the capital Brasília on Sunday and wreaked havoc there for hours. Her anger was vented at the election victory of Lula, who narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in a runoff and has been in office since the beginning of the year. It took security forces several hours to evacuate the buildings. As of Monday, authorities announced the arrest of at least 1,500 suspects.
Demands for Bolsonaro’s expulsion
Bolsonaro distanced himself from the attack. “Looting and entering public buildings” violates the “rule” for “peaceful demonstrations,” he wrote on Twitter. At the same time, he denied any responsibility. “Furthermore, I reject the allegations made by the current head of the Brazilian executive branch (Lula) without any evidence.” However, observers noted that Bolsonaro remained silent for a noticeably long time during the attacks.
Demands arose in the United States to expel the right-wing extremist politician from the United States. “The United States must stop granting Bolsonaro sanctuary in Florida,” wrote Democratic US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter. Democratic US Congressman Joaquin Castro also called for Bolsonaro’s expulsion in a CNN interview. “He’s a dangerous man,” Castro said. In the USA in particular, the attack was strongly reminiscent of the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2020 by supporters of President Donald Trump, who was voted out at the time. Bolsonaro has never made a secret of his political closeness to Trump. The media also called him the “Tropical Trump” at the time.
So far, the US has not received an extradition request against the former head of state. “We have not yet received an official request from the Brazilian government regarding Bolsonaro,” said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during a visit by US President Joe Biden to Mexico City. “If such a request is made, we will take it seriously.”