Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro left Brazil for the United States on Friday, two days before the end of his term and the enthronement of his hated left-wing successor Lula in Brasilia, multiple media reported.
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Bolsonaro, who has never congratulated Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his victory, should therefore not be present on Sunday at the investiture ceremonies in Brasilia of the new president, whom he had to gird with the presidential sash according to protocol.
Questioned by AFP, the presidency did not wish to confirm this information.
Vice President Hamilton Mourao is acting President and will speak on Saturday evening, national radio RNR announced.
After bidding farewell to his supporters live on social media, but without mentioning a departure, Jair Bolsonaro boarded an air force plane around 2 p.m., O Globo, CNN Brasil, Estadao and Estadao media reported. the UOL news site.
“I’m in flight, I’ll be back soon,” the far-right head of state told CNN Brasil.
A procession of presidential cars left the compound of the official residence of Alvorada in Brasilia, noted an AFP photographer, without being able to confirm that Bolsonaro was in one of the vehicles.
The General Secretariat of the Presidency has authorized the departure from the territory of members of the personnel responsible for the security of the “future ex-president” for a trip to Miami “from January 1 to 30, 2023”, according to the Official Journal on Friday.
It should be the first time since 1985 that an outgoing Brazilian president decides not to gird his successor with the presidential sash.
That year, the last president of the military dictatorship established in 1964, General João Figueiredo, refused to participate in the investiture ceremony of his successor, José Sarney.
Since the narrow victory of Lula, his sworn enemy, on October 30, Jair Bolsonaro has lived almost as a recluse in Brasilia and has locked himself in silence, giving various signs of depression.
For Créomar de Souza, founder of the consulting firm Dharma, Bolsonaro’s departure to the United States takes on the aspects of “a flight”, but also of “a denial of reality”.
But it is also an attempt to delegitimize the result (of the election) and the next government,” adds the analyst.
Earlier in the day, the Brazilian president said goodbye to his supporters, speaking for the first time since his electoral defeat on social networks – where he had been omnipresent for four years – and wiping away a few tears.
“The world will not stop turning on January 1 (…) We have a great future ahead of us,” assured Mr. Bolsonaro. “We lose battles, but we do not lose the war”.
He spoke directly to his followers who continue to camp outside army barracks or HQ in Brasilia and other cities to demand military intervention to prevent Lula from taking office.
“I never thought I would get this far,” the outgoing president said, crying, before declaring: “At least we delayed Brazil’s collapse for four years with this harmful leftist ideology.”
“I gave the best of myself,” continued Jair Bolsonaro, most of whose analysts consider the results of the mandate to be very bad.
In front of his official residence in the Alvorada Palace, demonstrators who followed the live transmission shouted “coward!”, “shame!”.
The president has for the first time condemned an attempted bombing by one of his supporters who planted an explosive device in a tanker truck near Brasilia airport to ‘create chaos’ ahead of Lula’s inauguration .
“Nothing justifies this attempt at terrorism”, he said, without however condemning the encampments of his supporters in front of army headquarters, which pose a threat to the progress of the investiture for which security has been reinforced.
