By Nehomar Hernández*
Former president Jair Bolsonaro is already back in Brazil.
On Thursday, as he set foot in his country again after a three-month stay in the United States, he was greeted with chants of “The captain is back” by a group of Liberal Party (PL) supporters during an event at Brasilia’s Juscelino Kubitschek airport.
The Brazilian conservative leader has been emphatic about his immediate plans.
On the one hand, to strengthen the work of the Liberal Party to gain ground for the upcoming municipal elections, to be held in the South American country next year.
On the other hand, to shore up his leadership as an important figure of the Brazilian right wing, given the 2026 presidential elections.
Bolsonarist’s strategy seems to be aimed at strengthening his links with that formation, to organize a solid platform that will allow him to make a real and systematic opposition to the recently inaugurated Lula da Silva’s government.
This is the understanding that Bolsonaro, despite having spent many years in Congress and Brazilian politics, has not wanted or been able to focus on building a stable party profile since he made his debut in 1989 in elected office.
Thus, the former Brazilian president is scheduled to assume the honorary presidency of the party next week.
This is not a minor detail since, as of today, the PL is the leading party in the Chamber (where it has 99 seats out of a total of 513), while it is the second force in the Senate (it has 12 out of a total of 81 senators).
It is also expected that both Jair Bolsonaro and his wife Michelle, who serves as president of the women’s section of the PL, will go on a national tour starting in the second half of this year, with an eye precisely on the municipal elections.
There, the head of the Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto, hopes that the party can win 60% of the country’s mayoralties.
“We will show these people, who for now and for a short time will be in power, that they will not do whatever they want with the future of the nation”, said the former president upon his arrival in Brazil, launching his attack on Lulismo.
Before his trip to Brasília, Bolsonaro insisted on a discourse of open opposition to Lula, flatly ruling out any possible collaboration with his government.
At the same time, he expressed his concern about what may happen in the coming months in the South American giant.
“I hope that Brazil does not enter the line of Venezuela.”
“I, as president, received thousands of Venezuelans.”
“On average, today, still 700 per day arrive there in Pacaraima, on the border.”
“Sadly, some people were deceived by socialism.”
“Venezuela is the richest country in the world in oil; it was supposed to be paradise to go there”, said the former head of state from an airport in Orlando, Florida, before flying to Brazil.
However, Bolsonaro will not have an obstacle-free path between now and the beginning of the electoral campaign for the municipal elections, as he will have to overcome several pitfalls to stay afloat in Brazil’s active politics.
The Justice has pointed him out for up to ten matters.
The most relevant are the accusations against him for allegedly being involved in the intellectual organization of vandalism acts during the occupation of the Esplanade of the Ministries last January.
*Venezuelan journalist (Universidad Central de Venezuela) and Master in Political Science (Universidad Simón Bolívar). He is working on his doctoral thesis in Political Science and hosts the “Y Así Nos Va” radio program on Radio Caracas Radio.
With information from LGI