It used to be that when the president of a democratic nation lost an election, they’d concede, and life would go on. That doesn’t always seem to be the case anymore.
Jair Bolsonaro was, until recently, the far-right president of Brazil. However the country’s presidential election on October 30th saw leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva win the vote. His inauguration day was this past weekend, on New Year’s Day.
However Bolsonaro wasn’t present this past Sunday to continue with the tradition of passing the presidential sash as a symbol of the peaceful transfer of power. That’s because on Friday night, after weeks of insisting the election had been rigged (according to the New York Times, he had, “…built a narrative of fraudulent elections based on inaccuracies, out-of-context reports, circumstantial evidence, conspiracy theories and downright falsehoods”), and not accepting his loss, he left the country.
And where did he go? Disney World.
Well, obviously he didn’t go there like Super Bowl winners do.
Nah, he’s just staying at the 8 bedroom, 5.5 bathroom vacation home of Brazilian MMA legend Jose Aldo, a retired UFC fighter and longtime supporter of the ex-president. It’s at Encore Resort at Reunion, a vacation home community about 5 minutes from the southwest corner of the Walt Disney World property.
You can even rent the house out (well, when fallen heads of state aren’t staying there), for prices starting at $519 per night. Here’s what it looks like…check out that Minion-themed bedroom at 9:20!
Anyway, upon his arrival, Bolsonaro was said to meet his neighbors…
Já em Orlando apoiadores receberam o Presidente Bolsonaro 31-12-22 pic.twitter.com/dZ8ezJ6tn2
— 🇧🇷 VLOGDOLISBOA (@VlogdoLisboa) December 31, 2022
…and then went to eat at a nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.
Meanwhile, the Orlando Sentinel reports that on Tuesday, about 40 of Bolsonaro’s fans, which included Brazilian Americans, as well as Brazilians who were vacationing at Disney, waited outside the vacation home, hoping to catch a glimpse of the fallen leader. He didn’t disappoint.
Supporters greet former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro outside a vacation home near Disney World in Florida. pic.twitter.com/nKt1CSPXEa
— Skyler Swisher (@SkylerSwisher) January 3, 2023
Many people in the crowd were heard saying the election was, “stolen.”
As per the New York Times, Bolsonaro reportedly plans to stay in the vacation home for the next one to three months to see whether or not the new administration will pursue investigations against him (the Times suggests Bolsonaro faces five probes, including the release of classified documents, attacks on Brazil’s voting machines and potential connections to “digital militias” that spread misinformation on his behalf). However commentators in Brazil are suggesting he plans on staying in the Sunshine (and “freedom”) State, “in exile,” to avoid possible arrest.
Time will tell. But for now, I guess he’ll be just another “Florida Man.”
Feature Photo: Public Domain, Presidential Archives.
Caption: President Donald J. Trump, joined by Vice President Mike Pence, welcomes President Jair Bolsonaro of the Federative Republic of Brazil to a working dinner Saturday evening, March 7, 2020, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
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10 comments
Is that house really only $519 a night? That’s a steal.
A friend of mine has a house in Golden Oaks, he definitely wouldn’t rent it out for that low.
Apples and oranges (or rather, oranges and grapefruits). Reunion isn’t Golden Oak 😉
Oh my, where do I start?
I’m a bit surprised that he didn’t go to Mar A Lago to commiserate about getting legally kicked out of office with Trump. The only problem I could see would be that both would want to talk and neither would want to listen.
Conced? Really? I am not a fan of Bolsonaro or Trump, but do you have any clue who Lula is? He was convicted by ten federal judges for corruption and money laundering. He and his party destroyed Petrobras – one of the largest Oil Companies in the world. There are hours of video-taped testimonies from his former ministers, including his finance minister, Antonio Pallocci, and CEOs of private companies saying that Lula received brides from them. By the way, Antonio Pallocci is still in jail. The Supreme Court reinterpreted Lula’s judicial process to free him from prison so he could run for president against Bolsonaro. The Brazilian Supreme Court campaigned freely and unashamed in Lula’s favor. The election process was very suspicious, to say the least.
It is incredible how people express opinions on other countries’ politics without knowing what is really happening in those places. It is all about right and left. If someone is left, he/she accuses any right person of all sorts of things, and the contrary is also true.
Thank-you for the lesson of Brazilian politics, but the main point of the article is that their former president fled the country and is staying at a vacation home in Orlando. The politics portion was merely to give a “Reader’s Digest condensed version” of why Bolsonaro left.
Flee? Really? If Trump went on vacation to France tomorrow, is he fleeing?
You think maybe he likes Disney World so much that he’s decided to vacation there for 1 to 3 months? Meh. Anyway, some publications are suggesting it’s an extended vacation and others are saying it’s fleeing. You can go with the former if you’d like. We’re going with the latter. Frankly, I’m mainly interested in the fact that he’s staying in a vacation home a few miles up the road from me. And hey, did you see that Minions bedroom? BANANAAAAAA!
There’s a TON of Brazilians who come here to vacation. He left office after he lost and came here.
Shrug…OK. Since he hasn’t said either way, we can both have differing opinions about why we think he’s here. Heads up that I edited your post so that it stayed within our guidelines of staying on topic.