Thousands Back Jair Bolsonaro at Conservative Rally in Brazil

Conservative former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday stated that he has no intention of fleeing from the country to avoid a possible arrest ordered by the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF).

Bolsonaro made the assertion in front of thousands of his followers at a peaceful rally near Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach. The Brazilian former president was formally charged in February with allegedly plotting to poison current radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and stage a “coup” following his narrow defeat in the 2022 presidential election. The STF will rule on March 25 to determine if Bolsonaro will go to trial.

“What they want is a conviction. If it’s 17 years for humble people, it’s to justify 28 years for me. I’m not leaving Brazil,” Bolsonaro said.

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Sunday’s event was organized by Bolsonaro and other Brazilian politicians to call for amnesty for the nearly 900 Brazilian men and women imprisoned for their participation in the January 8, 2023, riots. On that day, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the premises of Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Federal Tribunal, and Planalto presidential palace, causing significant damage to the facilities, furniture, and priceless historical artifacts housed therein. No deaths and only minimal injuries were documented during the incident.

Attendance estimates to the peaceful Copacabana rally vary widely across Brazilian media. Local outlets such as Poder 360 reported that roughly 26,000 participated. The newspaper O Globo reported on Sunday that, according to estimates from different pollsters, anywhere between 18,300 to more than 30,000 people participated. Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police, on the other hand, reported that “more than 400,000” participated.

Poder 360 further reported Monday that at least 933,000 people viewed the event online via YouTube across several different channels, citing measurements obtained from outlets such as Metrópoles.

At press time, a bill was presented at the Brazilian Congress that, if approved, would grant amnesty to individuals arrested or already convicted for their involvement in the January 8 riots, whether they were directly involved in the events or not.

During the event, Bolsonaro claimed he would continue to be a “problem” for the STF whether he is “in jail or dead.” The former president further claimed to his followers the bill has enough votes to pass and asserted that “we will overturn” a potential veto by President Lula da Silva.

“Why is the left against amnesty, since they have always benefited from amnesty throughout history?” Bolsonaro asked his followers.

“I was in the United States [on January 8]. If I was here, I’d be in prison to this day or maybe killed by them. I’ll be a problem for them, imprisoned or dead. But I leave the flame of hope burning, of the liberation of our people,” Bolsonaro said, suggesting that the sentences that had so far been issued to some of the January 8 participants were inflated to “justify” an alleged 28-year prison sentence against him.

According to the STF, 371 individuals have been convicted for crimes related to the events of January 8, 2023, as of January 2025, with 527 other individuals having reached agreements with Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in order not to be prosecuted.

Bolsonaro reportedly criticized (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes for the handling of the investigations launched against him over the purported poison and “coup” plot against Lula that he was formally charged with in February, as well for his censorship campaign against Bolsonaro during the 2022 presidential election.

“They didn’t want us to continue and there was a heavy hand from Alexandre [de] Moraes, on the occasion of the ’22 elections. For example, according to his decision, I couldn’t show an image of Lula defending abortion,” Bolsonaro said. “I couldn’t show an image of Lula defending a cell phone thief, saying that this was for having a beer.”

The former president, who is banned from running for office until 2030, urged his followers to vote for his Liberal Party (PL) in next year’s general elections. Bolsonaro requested that his followers elect “50 percent” of both chambers of Congress and in return, he promised, will “change the destiny of Brazil.”

Brazilian pastor Silas Malafaia, a close friend of Bolsonaro, claimed on Sunday that Bolsonaro and the PL party will hold another pro-amnesty rally on Sunday, April 6.

“A historic day. Nothing is built overnight, it’s like a building that you put one brick on top of another,” Malafaia said on social media. “April 6, São Paulo, 02:00p.m., we will continue to shout for the freedom of innocent people in prison.”

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.