News/Commentary

AOC: ‘The US must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida’

January 10, 2023 | | Print Article

In a naked ploy to further tarnish former President Donald Trump, who is running for the White House for a third time, U.S. Rep .Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. is likening events in Brazil to the Jan. 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol, and to further draw attention to this effort the self-described socialist is calling for an end to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s exile in Florida.

Using the same incendiary language the left employs against Republicans, Ocasio-Cortez cited “fascist movements abroad” in responding to Brazilians storming the National Congress and presidential palace on Sunday as they question the integrity of the recent presidential election in that country that resulted in a victory for now-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a radical left candidate challenging the incumbent president.

“Nearly 2 years to the day the US Capitol was attacked by fascists, we see fascist movements abroad attempt to do the same in Brazil,”  AOC said in a tweet. “We must stand in solidarity with @LulaOficial’s democratically elected government. The US must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida.”

Never mind that two days before his term ended on Jan. 1, and a full week before Sunday’s protest, Bolsonaro flew to Florida and is reportedly staying in suburban Orlando.

The media often refers to Bolsonaro as “far right” — though they seldom call Lula “far-left” — and he is also called Brazil’s “Trump of the tropics,” which helps explain the bad press. At the same time, it comes as no surprise that AOC backs Lula, a member of the leftist Workers’ Party.

Bolsonaro, who denounced the actions of the protestors, was admitted to a hospital in Florida on Monday after complaining of stomach pains — the politician was stabbed during the 2018 election campaign and suffers from intestinal blockage, according to various reports.

The former president told CNN Brazil that he had planned to stay in the United States until the end of January, but will now return sooner.

“I intend to bring forward my return because in Brazil the doctors already know about my problem of intestinal obstruction due to the stab wound,” Bolsonaro said.

Social media users were hung up on Ocasio-Cortez’s uses of the term “fascist,” suggesting that she may want to tread carefully… here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:

Tom Tillison
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