The far-right former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, assured during a speech to his supporters yesterday Saturday that right-wing forces are gaining ground at the international level, citing Italy and France as examples, and expressed his hope that former US president Donald Trump he will return to the White House when the Nov. 5 election is held.

“God willing, it will be Trump (the winning candidate) in November,” he told cheering supporters at the CPAC Brasil 2024 event in the southern spa town of Balneario Camporio.

The event was intended to boost support for candidates from former President Bolsonaro’s party ahead of Brazil’s municipal elections later this year, in which he seeks to show he retains much influence ahead of the 2026 presidential election.

This is, according to reports, the first major pre-election event of the opposition ahead of the October elections.

“We want Bolsonaro back,” chanted his supporters at the event, even though the far-right former president has been barred from running for office until 2030 by a court order due to his attacks on democratic institutions.

Speakers at the event railed against the current government under center-left President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, calling it corrupt. They promoted Christian, family values, advocated banning abortion and making it easier to own and carry guns, as well as toughen the policy against drug trafficking.

“It will be very important for us to unite conservatives with liberal views on the economy to discuss the future of the right in Brazil,” former environment minister Hicardu Salles said via CPAC Brasil’s social media accounts.

Chile’s far-right former presidential candidate Antonio Cast has already delivered a speech at the event, and Argentina’s president, Javier Millay, is expected to speak later today.

Mr Bolsonaro was defeated in the 2022 election and banned from running for elected office until 2030 because of his attacks on the electronic voting system and democratic institutions.

Despite being investigated for his alleged role in the storming of the presidential palace, parliament and the supreme court by supporters a week after Lula took power in January 2023, the former president still has many followers.

Thanks in part to funding from his Liberal Party, the far-right politician draws large crowds wherever he goes to support candidates ahead of municipal elections.

Guillermo Casaroes, political scientist of the FGV study center in São Paulo, estimated that the presence of Mr. Kast and Millay show how Mr. Bolsonaro and his political allies want Brazil to become a focal point for right-wing forces in the hemisphere.

CPAC Brasil aims to be “a platform for Brazilian extremists to make their narrative global,” particularly promoting “the idea that conservatives across the hemisphere are being persecuted by left-wing governments and authoritarian courts,” he explained.