Jair Bolsonaro returns to Brazil for first time since January riots

Brazil’s far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro has returned home for the first time since the January riots.

He has spent months in the US in self-imposed exile after never conceding defeat to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in last year’s election.

Supporters, claiming fraud at the elections, stormed the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace on January 8 in riots that recalled the 2021 riots on the US Capitol.

Mr Bolsonaro boarded a plane from Florida to Brazil on Wednesday and downplayed his role of leading his political party to reporters at the airport.

Thousands of supporters waited to welcome him at Brasilia’s airport when he arrived around 7am local time from Orlando.

Authorities beefed up security, closing traffic along the capital mall to prevent the risk of violent protests.

Mr Bolsonaro said he will collaborate with his political party, the conservative Liberal Party, in local elections next year, adding that the October vote he lost was a closed chapter.

“I will not lead any opposition. I will help my party as a person with experience,” he said.

Mr Bolsonaro added he plans to travel across Brazil in an effort to help his party in local elections next year.

“I hope that Brazil doesn’t become Venezuela,” he said.

“I hope that Brazil is not on the same path.”

Mr Bolsonaro left for the US two days before he was due to hand over the presidential sash to Lula on January 1.

He said he needed rest, but critics say he was avoiding the risks of more than a dozen legal investigations he may face in Brazil.

Legal probes have focused on his attacks against Brazil’s voting system and alleged role in encouraging supporters to storm government buildings.

Mr Bolsonaro attended the Conservative Political Action Conference this month in Washington where he questioned the result of the October election and said his mission in Brazil was “still not over.”