Bolsonaro leaves Brazil with two days left on his mandate

BRASALIA: Brazil´s outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro, who has not acknowledged his electoral defeat, left the country on Friday, two days before his successor´s inauguration and shortly after bidding his followers a tearful farewell.

The controversial far-right leader left for Florida in the United States on an air force plane around 2:00 pm (1700 GMT), according to several news outlets. “I am flying, I´ll be back soon,” CNN Brazil reported Bolsonaro as saying.

His plane landed in Orlando shortly after 9:00 pm (0200 GMT Saturday), according to the aviation tracking website FlightAware. This means he will miss Sunday´s swearing-in ceremony and will not transfer the presidential sash to leftist president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as is the tradition.

Bolsonaro is technically president for two more days. His vice president, Hamilton Mourao, is now acting president and will give a national address on Saturday, according to the RNR public broadcaster.

The presidency did not respond to AFP questions on the timing and purpose of Bolsonaro´s trip. Earlier Friday, Bolsonaro assured supporters in a live broadcast on social media that “we will not see the world end on January 1” when Lula takes up the presidential mantle.