Canceled prison meeting exposes rifts behind Bolsonaro ticket

As Brazil’s right wing searches for a viable path back to the presidency, there was much expectation placed on this week’s meeting between former President Jair Bolsonaro and São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas. The sitdown had been scheduled to take place tomorrow morning, inside the prison where Bolsonaro is being held, but Freitas canceled, claiming scheduling conflicts — despite having requested the meeting in the first place.

It would have been the first encounter between the two men since Bolsonaro’s preventive arrest in late November and the subsequent beginning of his prison sentence for attempting a coup d’état. It would also be the first contact between the two since Bolsonaro formally anointed his eldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, as his political heir for a presidential bid. 

That decision, announced in early December, failed to fully pacify succession disputes within the conservative camp. While Flávio polls better than any other right-wing politician, he is believed to have little chance of beating President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a runoff election. What’s more, many fear that his presence on the ballot could increase the chances of Lula winning re-election in a first-round landslide.