Bolsonaro finds refuge near ‘most magical place on Earth’

The faithful again gathered early on Tuesday outside the house with Disney-themed bedrooms near Orlando in the US, where former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro sought refuge from a re-election defeat.

They came to wish their leader, who was released from a local hospital on Tuesday night, a quick recovery from a stomach ailment that struck him on Monday. They’ve come daily since his arrival in Florida, even after Sunday, when thousands of his supporters rioted in Brasilia, ransacking the presidential palace, congress and supreme court buildings.

“I was on vacation in Orlando and thought it was important to be here, supporting Bolsonaro,” said Hebert da Rocha, 64, a Brazilian who has lived in the Miami area for 28 years. He showed off a selfie he took with the former president in front of the house.

“This is my therapy,” he said.

“It’s my way of doing something for my country.”

It’s a scene that’s played out over and over since the former army captain decamped to the vacation home in a gated community favoured by Brazilians that’s close to Disney World, the theme park called the “Most Magical Place on Earth”.

He arrived on December 30, skipping the transition of power to his successor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on New Year’s Day. 

Bolsonaro’s Florida escape is a two-storey house owned by a supporter, Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter Jose Aldo. The sprawling home has nine bedrooms, including a child’s decorated with giant Minions, the yellow pill-shaped characters from the popular animated movies. (It’s also a derogatory nickname for Bolsonaro supporters.) Another is dedicated to Mickey and Minnie and a third to Moana, a realtor’s video tour shows. There’s also a home theatre filled with stuffed Disney characters, a giant games room and the requisite pool.

That the former president would choose Orlando as his refuge isn’t surprising. At least 30,000 Brazilians have made the area home, according to city estimates, and hundreds of thousands come as tourists every year. Brazilian voters in Florida cast ballots for Bolsonaro by a 4-to-1 margin, in stark contrast to his narrow loss to Lula back home, according to official Brazilian election results.

“He definitely has support in Florida so it’s no coincidence he chose Orlando,” said Eduardo Siqueira, a retired University of Massachusetts Boston professor who specialises in Brazilian immigration. Bolsonaro is also close to former US president Donald Trump, who endorsed his re-election bid from Mar a Lago in Palm Beach. 

Social media is filled with videos from the past few days showing Bolsonaro, usually clad in a soccer jersey or Polo shirt, leaving the home to greet supporters, his two Brazilian bodyguards in tow. He was also photographed eating at a KFC and wandering around a Publix supermarket, pausing to give a thumbs-up to a supporter. 

“It’s so difficult to see him in Brazil, but here you can walk to the house and talk to him,” Vanessa Viani, 45, a Brazilian who lives in Orlando, said while she waited outside the house on Tuesday.

“It’s amazing.”

One of Bolsonaro’s cabinet members also decamped to Orlando. Anderson Torres, head of public security in Brasilia and former justice minister, headed there on Saturday, a day before the riots broke out, newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported.

The governor of Brasilia fired Torres on Sunday and a warrant was issued for his arrest on Tuesday as officials investigate his responsibility for the riots. Torres said in a Twitter post he will cut short his vacation to return to Brazil to defend himself.

Some suspect Bolsonaro may be putting down roots. Aides have visited the Orlando arm of the Brazilian evangelical Christian church, Igreja Batista Atitude, where Bolsonaro’s wife Michelle is a devoted follower. The church counts more than 400 members, almost all Brazilians.

“They are interested in attending,” said Nivaldo Nassiff, an associate pastor who has lived in the Orlando area more than a decade.

Bolsonaro is following a decades-long tradition of Brazilians flocking to the Orlando area. Before the pandemic hit in 2019, 830,000 Brazilians went annually to visit Disney and other theme parks and shop, according to Visit Orlando. They are lured by low prices for consumer goods at  malls, food, low crime and Mickey Mouse, said Guilherme Arruda, one of hundreds of Brazilian real estate brokers in the Orlando area.  

“It’s part of the collective conscience in Brazil that you have to visit Disney once in your life, so they keep coming,” Arruda said.

Bolsonaro “should have his own reasons, but the Brazilian community should be an attraction”.

Bolsonaro was released from hospital on Tuesday, a day after being admitted for abdominal pain, an adviser said. He told CNN Brasil he’d planned to stay in Florida until the end of the month but could return to Brazil earlier for treatment. 

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