As Brazil reels from mobs of rioters swarming its seats of power, its former leader has decamped to a Florida resort, where droves of supporters flocked to cheer on their ousted president.
Devotees have traveled in recent days to the temporary home of Jair Bolsonaro, a gated community with towering waterslides, for a chance to see him. He signed autographs, hugged children and took selfies with adoring masses, some sporting "Make Brazil Great Again" shirts.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, welcomes Paraguay's President Mario Abdo Benitez at Planalto palace in Brasilia on March 12, 2019. "He will make himself right at home in Florida’s right-wing ecosystem of grifting and podcasting, finding allies with whomever thinks they can use him to advance their far-right agenda," said Andy Reiter, a professor of politics and international relations at Mount Holyoke College who has researched foreign strongmen.
A stream of regional leaders have called the state home, at least for a time, over the past half century, from Haiti’s Prosper Avril to Nicaragua’s Anastasio Somoza to Panama’s Manuel Noriega. Alongside a list of other Latin American notables, they’ve camped out in both modest homes and elaborate mansions and, in the case of Noriega, a Miami prison cell, where he served 17 years on drug charges.
Though Lula da Silva won Brazil’s election by more than 2 million votes, Brazilian voters living in Florida appear to have heavily favored Bolsonaro. Election data for Brazilians living abroad shows 56 polling locations listed under Miami, the only Florida city under which data is compiled. Bolsonaro has long been called the "Trump of South America," so it may come as no surprise that he wound up just a few hours’ drive away from the former American president’s Palm Beach compound. Both rode to power fueled by right-wing, anti-establishment anger, pursued nationalist platforms while in office, then spread lies about voter fraud in their own defeats. Followers of both men attacked the seats of government in anger after their preferred candidate lost.
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