Brian Winter on PBS about Flavio Bolsonaro Fleeing Brazil after Election Loss
Brian Winter on PBS about Flavio Bolsonaro Fleeing Brazil after Election Loss
"I'm not sure that he is going to find the audience to be quite as receptive as he's hoping," in Brazil or other countries, said AS/COA's VP of policy.
Stephanie Sy of PBS NewsHour interviewed Brian Winter, editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly and vice president of Policy of Americas Society/Council of the Americas, about Flávio Bolsonaro's escape to the United States after losing Brazil's presidential election. Bolsonaro faces several criminal investigations.
Sy talked in the interview about Bolsonaro issuing a statement saying that he is facing a politically motivated witch-hunt and that he is the true elected president of Brazil. The journalist asked Winter how will that motivate his base.
"It's an open question, Stephanie. We will have to see," answered Winter. "But the early indications from Brazilians, including some on the right, are that this is not a strategy that is likely to work. It's hard to set up a parallel government or a government in exile. Flavio Bolsonaro compared himself in this statement to Juan Guaidó, who was the Venezuelan president-elect who assumed that role at least in exile for several years and was unable to dislodge Nicolás Maduro from power."
"It's important to note that Flávio Bolsonaro's own party, the Liberal Party in Brazil, recognized the results of Sunday's election as legitimate," added Winter. "Other allied countries with the Trump administration in South America have also done so in the last couple of days. So I'm not sure that Flávio Bolsonaro is going to find the audience to be quite as receptive as he's hoping, either in Brazil or in the rest of South America."
