Bolsonaro did not apply for Italian citizenship, says chancellor

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Antonio Tajani, denied this Tuesday (10) that Jair Bolsonaro has applied for Italian citizenship and said that obtaining the document is unlikely for the former president.

“Him [Bolsonaro] didn’t ask [a cidadania]and I don’t think he can have it as far as I’m concerned,” Tajani said in an interview with Italian radio.

The chancellor had been questioned in Parliament by left-wing deputies about a possible request from the former Brazilian leader, but had not yet taken a position on the matter.

In November, a few days after the second round of presidential elections, two of Bolsonaro’s sons, Flávio and Eduardo, asked the Italian embassy in Brasília to open the process to obtain citizenship. Questioned by the press at the time, they denied their intention to leave Brazil.

The now ex-president, however, left the country on the eve of the end of his term and went to the United States. Its status in American territory became a cause for attention after thousands of Bolsonaristas invaded and destroyed the headquarters of the Three Powers in Brasília.

Parliamentarians from the Democratic Party, the same as President Joe Biden, publicly requested Bolsonaro’s expulsion from the country. THE Sheet, Deputy Raúl Grijalva said that part of the Democratic group will meet to ask the White House for the first step in the procedures for the deportation of the far-right leader. “The former president of Brazil should not have the luxury of vacationing in the US, taking pictures of Florida and pretending he is not involved in attacks on democracy. He needs to be held accountable,” he said.

Technically, the head of state visa that allows Bolsonaro to remain in the US expires at the end of this month, given that he has not held an official position in the Brazilian government since January 1, when President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) took over the Executive. The information is from Ned Price, spokesman for the Department of State, the body responsible for diplomacy in the US government —although with the caveat that he could not speak specifically about Bolsonaro’s case, since the visa situation of individuals is a confidential information.

“Generally speaking, if someone enters the U.S. on an A visa, which is essentially a diplomatic visa for foreign diplomats or heads of state, and is no longer involved in official business related to their governments, it is up to the visa holder to leave the U.S. or request a change to another type of immigration authorization within 30 days,” he said. “If you have no reason to be in the US, any individual is subject to removal by the Department of Homeland Security.”

On Monday (9), US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the White House had not received any formal request from the Lula government regarding Bolsonaro’s status.

A formal request from the Brazilian government would be the first step towards a possible extradition of Bolsonaro, according to an analyst interviewed by the Sheet. The request would need to be made by the Judiciary and then forwarded to the US government – ​​which may or may not accept it.

The process can only take place if there is a specific agreement between the two countries involved, which is the case of Brazil and the USA, and depends on factors such as reciprocity of penalties, explained Gustavo Ferraz de Campos Monaco, professor of private international law at the University from São Paulo (USP).

Another possibility for an eventual expulsion of Bolsonaro in the US would be deportation, a faster mechanism that would depend exclusively on the will of Washington. In that case, the decision would not depend on any premise or assumption, according to Monaco.

On Sunday, the former president took to social media and, disclaiming responsibility, criticized the depredations, associating them with the left. “Peaceful demonstrations, in the form of law, are part of democracy. However, depredations and invasions of public buildings as occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, escape the rule”, he wrote.

The former president has been in Florida since the end of December and has made little public statements. He has remained a recluse since his defeat in the second round in October. On Monday morning, he made new publications extolling the achievements of his mandate – without any mention of the attacks orchestrated by his supporters and the police operations that dismantled Bolsonarist camps in Brasília.

In the early afternoon, the former president was admitted to a hospital in Florida with abdominal pain. In an interview with CNN hours later, he stated that he is fine and intends to anticipate his return to Brazil.