Rubio says Trump administration did not help Bolsonaro flee Brazil to US
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said President Donald Trump’s administration played no role in helping Brazil’s defeated presidential candidate, Flavio Bolsonaro, leave the country for the United States after losing the October 25 run-off election to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro arrived in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, a day after the US Department of State announced that he and his family would be granted American visas. His election defeat bucked a trend of conservative electoral victories in Latin America.
Bolsonaro is under investigation in Brazil over alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. Before his departure, he had been ordered to surrender his passport after police identified him as a flight risk.
“We didn’t facilitate anything,” Rubio told reporters on Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia, where diplomats from the Group of 20 largest world economies had gathered.
“We had word that he had arrived in the United States. He had previously held a visa, and the president made a decision to allow him to enter the country,” Rubio said.
He added that the US government was not “involved directly in any of the moves that were made”.
Rubio also said he had met Brazil’s Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, in Atlanta on Friday and Saturday, adding that he expected to meet Brazilian officials again in November in France during a foreign ministers’ meeting.
Separately, Trump, who had previously described Brazil’s election as “rigged”, expressed sympathy for Bolsonaro and said he could remain in the United States indefinitely.
“I think he got treated very shabbily, very shabbily, so he can stay here as long as he wants,” Trump told reporters at his Florida residence on Saturday.
The Reuters news agency reported that Bolsonaro was admitted into the United States under humanitarian parole, a status that typically lasts for one year.
Trump’s comments suggested that relations between the Western Hemisphere’s two largest democracies could remain strained for some time.
After losing the run-off election, Bolsonaro travelled to the United States through Argentina and Ecuador. Some US media outlets reported that the journey was partly arranged with the assistance of Jason Miller, a White House official.
Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat and described the election results as fraudulent without providing evidence.
Since arriving in the United States, he has claimed to be Brazil’s true “leader” and said he left the country because he was a victim of “persecution”.
Credit: Aljazeera
