US Lawmakers Call for Investigation of Bolsonaro
WBO Press release January 12 2023
US Congressman Joaquin Castro
Document also defends the revocation of the visa granted to the former Brazilian president
WBO participated in the articulation with congressional representatives in Washington
A group of US lawmakers delivered a letter to US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, January 11, asking that former President Jair Bolsonaro be investigated for possible involvement in attacks on democracy in Brazil. They also ask that Biden revoke any diplomatic visa that Jair Bolsonaro may have. The Washington Brazil Office (WBO) is one of the organizations that participated in the initiative.
"As far as we know, Bolsonaro entered the US when he was still president of Brazil and must have done so through an A-1 visa, reserved for individuals on an official or diplomatic visit," states the text delivered by congressional representatives and senators to Biden. The group requests the revocation of this visa, arguing that Bolsonaro no longer holds an official position.
In addition, it asks that American authorities "investigate any role that Bolsonaro and members of his circle may have had in the events of January 8, or crimes that he may have committed when he was in office" as president of Brazil.
The former Brazilian president has been in Orlando, Florida since December 30th. He lost the October 30 presidential election and left the country on the eve of his rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva taking office on January 1.
On Monday, January 9, Ned Price, the spokesman for the US State Department, said that Bolsonaro cannot continue in the country with a head-of-state visa, signaling that he should apply for another visa, such as a tourist visa, if he wants to stay on American soil. On the same day, Bolsonaro was admitted to a Florida hospital in order to treat complications from the abdominal surgery he underwent in 2018 and said in an interview with CNN that he intended to stay in the US only "until the end of the month" of January.
Bolsonaro has issued dozens of statements in favor of arming the population and backing the resistance of his supporters to an adverse electoral result. For this reason, he is associated with the violent action of extreme right-wing militants that invaded the seats of the three branches of the Brazilian government in Brasília on January 8
The Brazilian government, however, has not requested Bolsonaro’s deportation or extradition to Brazil. Although he is the subject of an inquiry conducted by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who also oversees the Federal Election Court, and may be called to testify at a future congressional investigation, neither situation represents a judicial conviction, which is why there is no extradition request against him.
The initiative to write and send the letter to Biden is led by US Congressman Joaquin Castro and has dozens of signatures.
"At this point, it is already quite clear how these extreme right-wing radical movements act in an articulated way in Brazil and in the United States. The decisions on how to deal with this, how to face this threat, are up to the Brazilian and US governments, as well as their congresses and other official bodies. The WBO works to bring these actors together and facilitate the dialogue and corresponding actions", commented Paulo Abrão, executive director of the WBO.
OTHER INITIATIVES
This same Wednesday, January 11, a group of more than sixty US and Brazilian lawmakers released a joint statement in which they condemn “authoritarian and anti-democratic actors of the extreme right,” who act in collusion to attack democracies in Brazil and the United States. The WBO was responsible for articulating the initiative between congressional representatives from both countries.
In the joint statement, the group refers to the attacks on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the attacks on the three branches of the Brazilian government in Brasília on January 8, 2023.
For the legislators involved in the initiative, “it is no secret that far-right agitators in Brazil and the US are coordinating efforts.” An example of this are the meetings between Brazilian Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro and former advisers to Donald Trump, such as Jason Miller and Steve Bannon, who “encouraged Bolsonaro to contest the results of the elections in Brazil.”
The WBO is an independent and non-partisan think tank that specializes in promoting cooperation and knowledge about the Brazilian reality and offering support to the international work of Brazilian civil society, social movements and others in Washington in defense of democracy, human rights, freedom, and the environment.
