Flávio Bolsonaro in Florida: Washington rolls out the flying carpet

The facts first. According to Courrier international, which draws on the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, Flávio Bolsonaro, a conservative senator, arrived in Florida on a private jet on Wednesday. He had just lost Brazil's presidential election on Sunday to Lula. He is the target of a series of judicial investigations. Once on the ground, he proclaimed himself the "leader" of Brazil. Both American dailies report the involvement of Jason Miller, adviser to President Donald Trump. Courrier international speaks of an escape carried out with "the help of the White House". What the dispatch does not say: who paid for the flight, what Washington promised, what the Brazilian justice system intends to do. These points remain to be established.

From here on, it's our reading.

Cui bono? Let's ask the question early. A man beaten at the polls, threatened by the courts, is spirited out by an adviser to the American power structure. This is not hospitality. It is a political investment. Washington is not rescuing an individual; it is keeping a flag in reserve.

Brazil is no ordinary country. A large market, a major producer of raw materials, the linchpin of South America. For a great power, a government docile in Brasília is worth more than one that trades wherever it pleases. Analysts of imperialism would see the old logic here: capital seeks outlets, resources and markets, and the state that carries it defends those spheres of influence. Sanctions, alliances, contracts and now private jets form the political envelope of this competition. Nothing here proves a precise economic plan. But the structural interest is obvious.

There is also the state itself. We are told that states are neutral arbiters, that sovereignty is sacred, that the rules-based order applies to all. Yet here is a foreign capital helping a politician escape a judicial procedure in his own country. According to the American press. The rule applies to the weak. For the powerful, it is a menu à la carte. Lenin saw the state as an instrument of class; here, the instrument also serves to protect its clients beyond borders.

Florida is no accident. It has become the salon of the American far right and the refuge of its friends. Media platform, donor networks, proximity to power. It is from there that Flávio Bolsonaro now claims to "lead" a country he has just left. The aim is to keep a key opposition on tap, with relays in the media and on the street, to contest Lula's victory from abroad. Call it, in Gramsci's language, a war of position: whoever loses the election seeks to hold on to common sense.

As for Lula, the question is whether he will dare to demand accountability or settle for a polite diplomatic protest. Brazilian workers, for their part, do not have a jet. They have ballot boxes, and they have just used them. That Washington respects them is what should be watched, rather than its speeches.