Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro hospitalized in Florida amid crackdown on rioters

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was hospitalized in Florida on Monday following a weekend of violent clashes in his home country, as supporters of his failed re-election campaign rioted and stormed multiple federal buildings.

Bolsonaro was admitted to AdventHealth Celebration, a hospital outside Orlando, with concerns over severe abdominal pain, according to a report from Brazilian news outlet Globo.

This marks the latest health scare for the former president, who has reportedly been hospitalized a handful of times since being stabbed by a socialist activist in 2018 at a rally, resulting in severe blood loss and damage to multiple organs.

The hospitalization comes as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who assumed office last week, and other officials in the South American nation crack down on Bolsonaro supporters who destroyed federal property in the Sunday demonstrations.

Lula, a self-described socialist, defeated Bolsonaro, a populist conservative sometimes called the “Trump of the Tropics,” by a narrow margin in elections held in October.

"The coup plotters who promoted the destruction of public property in Brasilia are being identified and will be punished," Lula said on social media. "Tomorrow we resume work at the Planalto Palace. Democracy always."

Bolsonaro, who has been residing in Florida for the past few weeks, has faced various probes related to the release of classified documents, denying election results, and potential connections to misinformation campaigns.

The Biden administration has not yet received any requests from the Brazilian government regarding Bolsonaro.

"We have not, as of now, received any official requests from the Brazilian government related to Bolsonaro,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday. “Of course, if we did receive such requests, we’d treat them the way we always do, we’d treat them seriously."

Bolsonaro, who is reportedly staying in the home of retired Brazilian mixed martial artist Jose Aldo, condemned the rioters in a statement.

"Peaceful demonstrations, in the form of the law, are part of democracy," he remarked. "However, depredations and invasions of public buildings as occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, escape the rule."