Paris Soir - Bolsonaro announces return to Brazil on March 30

NYSE - LSE

CMSD	0.31%	22.38	$
CMSC	0.29%	22.085	$
BCC	5.02%	76.06	$
RELX	1.14%	32.44	$
BCE	0.28%	21.38	$
NGG	0.33%	82.59	$
RBGPF	0.52%	67.35	$
RIO	1.16%	90.54	$
JRI	-0.15%	13.01	$
VOD	11.14%	14.72	$
GSK	0.59%	52.78	$
RYCEF	1.95%	19.46	$
BP	1.66%	39.2	$
AZN	-4.01%	171.61	$
BTI	-0.03%	60.02	$

Bolsonaro announces return to Brazil on March 30

POLITICS 24.03.2023

Bolsonaro announces return to Brazil on March 30 / Photo: ROBERTO SCHMIDT - AFP/File

Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro, who left the country for the United States two days before his term ended, will return home on March 30, his party and press service announced on Friday.

Text size:

His entourage said Bolsonaro had handed over to authorities, through his lawyers, some expensive jewels given to him by the government of Saudi Arabia.

The 68-year-old far-right leader has been embroiled in a scandal over the issue and is accused of having brought the jewels into Brazil illegally.

Bolsonaro will arrive on Thursday March 30 at 7:30 am, his Liberal Party (PL) said on social media.

Following his election defeat to leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in October, Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida on December 30, just two days before the new president was due to be sworn in, when he was supposed to pass on the presidential sash to his successor.

"I will resume a normal life, I will work for the PL, travel around Brazil and take part in politics," Bolsonaro said in an interview with TV Record broadcast on Thursday.

Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing but has been accused of illegally trying to bring gifts into the country.

The scandal erupted when newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo reported that customs officers intercepted an aide to Bolsonaro's then-mines and energy minister trying to enter Brazil with a backpack containing diamond jewelry from Swiss luxury firm Chopard after an official trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2021.

It later emerged Bolsonaro had kept a second set of jewels, also from Chopard, that entered Brazil undetected after the same trip.

Travelers entering Brazil with goods worth more than $1,000 are required to declare them and pay hefty import taxes.

Media reports have placed the value of the jewels, some of which were believed to be a gift for the former president's wife, at $3.2 million for the first set, and at least $75,000 for the second.

"I found out about this story a year later and my wife found out about it through the press," Bolsonaro told TV Record.

"She has nothing to do with this, the box that was for her is with customs."

C.Blanc--PS

Featured

Ukraine's Zelensky orders government reshuffle, new PM

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a major reshuffle of the government on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and the heads of some law enforcement agencies.

Iran, US trade more strikes as fighting escalates

Iran said Sunday it was closing the Strait of Hormuz and launched missiles and drones at Gulf neighbours after the US carried out a new round of strikes as their conflict escalated.

Noosha Aubel and Potsdam: The trust placed in her has been squandered

Noosha Aubel: a €33.4 million budget deficit in the state capital Potsdam, around €500,000 spent on external consultancy, revised austerity plans at the expense of children – and a shameful case involving a severely disabled toddler as part of a nursery scandal: Noosha Aubel inherited some of these crises, but the leadership deficit is now entirely her own. A 72.9 per cent share of the vote is not a mark of leadership; it is merely a vote of confidence. Noosha Aubel (50) received an exceptionally high level of this confidence in October 2025 – and has squandered it in a surprisingly short space of time. The hope for a fresh start has given way to bitter disillusionment, which is by no means limited to political opponents. After just 100 days, observers were already finding no clear direction whatsoever; in June 2026, media circles openly reported on unsettled supporters, unilateral actions and a lack of majorities. The yardstick is simple: is Potsdam functioning better? Are the finances in order, decisions properly prepared and the most vulnerable protected? So far, the answer is: no. Potsdam wanted a fresh start. It got a mayor who all too often confuses management jargon with leadership and is unable to get a grip on problems in the state capital. Added to this is a shameful scandal involving a toddler with multiple severe disabilities, for whom Aubel is personally responsible, and which raises questions about morality and decency. It is particularly shameful that media enquiries are not being answered by the head of the press office at Potsdam Town Hall, Jan Brunzlow – even though Noosha Aubel has demonstrably been contacted personally. Instead of answering the questions posed in a transparent and comprehensible manner, Brunzlow, according to the available documents, is pushing for a ‘personal conversation’, thereby apparently attempting to shift the communication into a non-public, informal setting. Should this course of action indeed contravene the applicable obligations to provide information under press law, a fundamental question arises: Is Noosha Aubel fit to hold the office of Lord Mayor of the state capital, Potsdam?

US-Iran strikes: latest developments

Iran announced it was again closing the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday and hit Gulf neighbours in retaliation for US strikes, further undermining efforts to salvage Middle East peace efforts.