Bolsonaro revives election campaign climate in Ribeirão – 04/30/2023 – Politics

On his first trip across the country after returning from a three-month period in the United States, former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) revived in Ribeirão Preto (313 km from São Paulo) this Sunday (30) the atmosphere of the election campaign of 2022.

Bolsonaro landed at Leite Lopes airport, in Ribeirão, shortly before 2 pm this Sunday and was received by supporters who hours earlier had already gathered at the site.

Screams like “Lula, thief, your place is in prison”, “God, homeland, family and freedom” and “I came for free” were chanted by Bolsonaristas under a temperature of 31 degrees Celsius.

A tight security scheme was set up. The area close to the arrivals area was fenced off, and military police were inspecting anyone entering the area. There were at least 15 security force vehicles at the airport, including two Military Police buses.

On the flight, Bolsonaro boarded after all the passengers. Upon arrival in Ribeirão, he disembarked before the others, surrounded by four security guards.

Bolsonaro left the airport in the back of a pickup truck and was followed by motorcycles and cars to a farm on the banks of the Abrão Assed highway, which connects Ribeirão Preto to Serrana. Politicians such as federal deputy Mário Frias (PL-SP) accompanied the ex-president’s arrival.

Around the airport, street vendors sold shirts alluding to the former president for R$50, the same price charged for small flags. “I’ve followed him since 2019, I’ve sold a lot of shirts, but it would have been better if he had won [em 2022]”, said seller Paulo Sérgio Alves, from São Paulo.

Next to him, bank clerk Patrícia Matos, from the city of Franca, was trying out one of them, to replace the one she used last year. “It was too worn out already,” she said.

The objective of the visit to Ribeirão was to participate in the opening ceremony of the Agrishow (International Fair of Agricultural Technology in Action) this Monday (1st), which however was canceled by the organization due to a controversy with the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

The main agricultural technology fair in Latin America, Agrishow entered into a collision course with the federal government last Tuesday (25), when the president of the fair, Francisco Matturro, communicated to Minister Carlos Fávaro (Agriculture) that Bolsonaro would participate in the opening ceremony and suggested that the minister visit the event the next day, when there will be a meeting of the FPA (Agribusiness Parliamentary Front).

Fávaro felt “uninvited”, canceled the agenda in Ribeirão Preto and made the Lula government threaten, on Friday (28), to cancel Banco do Brasil’s sponsorship of the event.

On Saturday night (29), pressured by exhibitors, the organizing associations of Agrishow announced in a statement the cancellation of the opening ceremony.

The cancellation of the opening act will not prevent Bolsonaro from visiting the fair. Former minister Fabio Wajngarten published on a social network that the former president will remain in Ribeirão until the end of this Monday (1st).

Videos of former minister and senator Marcos Pontes (PL) and deputy and former minister Ricardo Salles (PL) were shared on messaging apps in recent days calling on “conservatives”, “patriots” and “good men and women” to participate in the reception of Bolsonaro.

The invitation for Bolsonaro to visit Ribeirão came from the president of the Rural Union of Ribeirão Preto, Paulo Junqueira, who also chairs the Rural Association of Ribeirão and is vice president of Assovale (Rural Association Vale do Rio Pardo).

Junqueira had already welcomed Bolsonaro when the president attended the agricultural fair last year, in his last year as president.

Last year, Bolsonaro had already been received at a lunch on the same property. When participating in Agrishow, he began his speech by stating that “I never expected to be President of the Republic”. “Since it happened, I understand that it is a mission from God […] And reinforce here: only God gets me out of that chair.”

On the occasion, he stated that, as a federal deputy, he always signed lists to participate in the agribusiness caucus in Brasília and that he participated and collaborated according to his stature, “which was not very big, for this huge sector that is agribusiness”.