Conservative group Turning Point USA (TPUSA) announced that it will be hosting Bolsonaro for its "Power of the People" rally at the Trump National Doral resort in Miami on February 3 at 5 p.m. According to the group, Bolsonaro and TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk are slated to shoot the breeze on "socialism, the political state of Brazil, and so much more!"
The event may be a slight departure from the former president's past speaking appearances at, for instance, the G20 Summit and U.N. General Assembly. The rally has been billed as his first public event since leaving Brazil after losing the presidential election to leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also known as Lula.
"TPUSA is honored to host President Jair Bolsonaro in Miami this Friday for his first public event following the recent Brazilian elections," Kirk tweeted.
Since touching down in Florida in late December, the former leader has struggled to remain under the radar.Turning Point is hosting an event with Jair Bolsonaro near Miami next week that it's billing as his first public appearance since he fled Brazil following the presidential election
— Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) January 31, 2023
It's being hosted at Trump's Doral golf club pic.twitter.com/0K8UCzFxFa
Bolsonaro, who served as president of Brazil from 2019 until 2022, was spotted eating at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in the Orlando area, wandering around a Publix grocery like a lost "Florida Man," and greeting supporters inside a gated community in Orlando.
On January 8, his supporters overran government buildings in Brazil's capital city of Brasília in a violent episode that mirrored the January 6, 2021 insurrection in Washington, D.C. Although Bolsonaro denounced the attack, he had previously refused to accept his defeat in the election and questioned the integrity of Brazil's electoral system. In November, he formally challenged the election results, claiming there were errors in the country's electronic vote-counting process.
A day after the riot, Bolsonaro shared a photo of himself lying in an Orlando area hospital after being admitted for abdominal discomfort from a stab wound he sustained on his campaign trail in 2018.
While Bolsonaro originally indicated he would only be staying in Florida until the end of January, he recently applied for a six-month tourist visa to remain longer in the United States. His immigration attorney, Felipe Alexandre, said that Bolsonaro wishes to “clear his head and enjoy being a tourist in the United States for a few months before deciding what his next step will be.”
The request was filed on January 27, according to CNN. The U.S. State Department has declined to confirm Bolsonaro’s current visa status for confidentiality reasons.
