Manufactured by rapid crises, Flavio Bolsonaro was nominated on Saturday as a candidate for the October election in Brazil against President Lula, and assumed the role of heir to his father, the former far-right head of state Jair Bolsonaro, detained for attempted coup d’état.
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“I can be calmer, more smiling, more peaceful and moderate, but here the blood of Bolsonaro flows! “, he said, patting his arm. According to him, Brazil “can take big steps towards a dictatorship” if the champion of the left Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wins a fourth non-consecutive mandate.
With ultra-liberal Argentine President Javier Milei as the star guest, the Liberal Party (PL), Brazil’s main conservative party, held its convention in front of a thousand people in the megalopolis Sao Paulo to put Senator Bolsonaro, 45, into orbit.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
AFP
He was knighted by his father after the latter’s incarceration in 2025.
The campaign which is opening is immediately marked by the figure of American President Donald Trump, ally of the Bolsonaro family, who has just imposed two series of punitive customs duties on Brazil due to alleged unfair trade practices.
Leading figure of a growing right in Latin America, Javier Milei warned against “the Lula risk” in October, in a fiery speech where he affirmed that Brazil must free itself from “its submission to the leftist”.
“We would like our candidate to be Jair Bolsonaro, but today Flavio is the most judicious option,” Fernando Moeno, a 50-year-old retired military policeman who came to attend the event, told AFP.
Flavio Bolsonaro broke down in tears while talking about his father, who appeared in a video generated by artificial intelligence. The courts have banned him from speaking publicly since he served his 27-year prison sentence under house arrest.
Often dressed in the jersey of the national football team, which has become the emblem of the Bolsonaristas, the sympathizers repeatedly chanted “Lula thief!” », amid drums and flags in a hangar adjoining the Pacaembu stadium.
After a promising start which placed him neck and neck with his rival, Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son has lost momentum in recent weeks. According to a poll published Friday by the Datafolha institute, Lula received 48% of voting intentions, compared to 43% for him.
Little jealousy
This bad patch began when the Intercept Brasil site revealed in May an audio message that Flavio Bolsonaro had sent to Daniel Vorcaro, a banker since arrested for vast financial fraud, asking him for money to finance a film about his father.
Flavio Bolsonaro denied any wrongdoing and any “intimacy” with the banker.
Jair Bolsonaro
AFP
Another front opened within his family in June, when his mother-in-law Michelle Bolsonaro complained on social networks of a “humiliation” he allegedly inflicted on her during a telephone conversation: “He said I didn’t understand anything about politics. »
Once considered as a potential candidate, the former first lady is essential to the Bolsonaro camp to seduce voters and the powerful evangelical movement.
Thursday, after new apologies from her son-in-law, Michelle Bolsonaro, in a perfectly orchestrated choreography, granted him forgiveness, sealing a reconciliation.
Brazil’s First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro gestures during a motorcade as supporters of Brazilian President and re-election candidate Jair Bolsonaro demonstrate against the Federal Supreme Court and the Superior Electoral Tribunal, in Brasília, Brazil, October 29, 2022.
AFP
“It happens in any family, Michelle’s power grew a lot and that caused a little natural jealousy,” said Maria de Almeida, a 63-year-old retiree.
Absent on Saturday, Michelle Bolsonaro gave her support to Flavio Bolsonaro in a video, as did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Traitor”
Donald Trump also complicates the situation for the right-wing contender.
Posing as defender of Brazilian “sovereignty”, Lula accuses Flavio Bolsonaro of being a “traitor” who supports the trade war launched by Washington against Brasília.
This file photo taken on March 7, 2020 shows U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (R) during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
AFP
The recent American customs duties on Brazilian products are a continuation of a first surcharge imposed in 2025, itself decided in reaction to the trial of Bolsonaro Sr.
This initial commercial measure, carried by Eduardo, brother of Flavio Bolsonaro, was partially lifted thanks to an ephemeral rapprochement between Lula and his American counterpart.
More recently, Flavio Bolsonaro asked the Trump administration to renounce new taxes, fearing that Lula would benefit politically from them. Without success.
