Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro is in no rush to leave Florida, making life deeply uncomfortable for the White House as it gets ready to welcome his successor and bitter rival next month.
Back home, Bolsonaro is under investigation on multiple fronts, including his involvement in the Jan. 8 riots by supporters who refused to accept he lost the election to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. His continued presence in the U.S. was already awkward but he’d indicated he’d cut his holiday short and leave at the end of January.
Instead, he’s applied for a six-month visitor visa, according to a person familiar with the matter. That will add to the diplomatic discomfort for this U.S. administration. Bolsonaro, a close ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, decamped to Orlando two days before Lula’s inauguration on Jan. 1.