Bolsonaro, who never conceded defeat in last year's election, is expected to lead the opposition to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, officials in Bolsonaro's PL party say.
Brazil's far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro has returned from the United States, welcomed back by hundreds of chanting supporters at the Brasilia airport before heading straight into meetings with his political party.
"We are here to receive our president. His job will be to sort out this mess. The Lula government is just doing everything wrong," 45-year-old small business owner Anderson Clayton said on Thursday.
Supporters with Brazil flags draped around their shoulders sang the national anthem and chanted "legend" as they awaited Bolsonaro to exit the arrivals area, where security was tight.
Bolsonaro, who never conceded defeat in last year's election, is expected to lead the opposition to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, officials in Bolsonaro's PL party said.
Before boarding a plane in Orlando, Florida, Bolsonaro downplayed his leadership role and said he would use his experience to help his party campaign in next year's municipal elections, adding that the vote he lost in October is a closed chapter.
"We have turned a page and now we will prepare for next year's elections," he told CNN Brasil shortly before boarding.
The 68-year-old former president will proceed from the airport to the headquarters of PL, which became the largest party in the House and the second largest in the Senate after the last election.
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Legal probes
Bolsonaro left for the United States two days before he was due to hand over the presidential sash to Lula on Jan. 1.
He said he needed rest, but critics say he was avoiding the risks of over a dozen legal investigations he may face in Brazil.
Legal probes have focused on his attacks against Brazil's voting system and alleged role in encouraging supporters to storm government buildings in January 8 riots that recalled the 2021 assault on the US Capitol.
Bolsonaro, who holds former US president Donald Trump as his political idol, attended the Conservative Political Action Conference this month in Washington where he questioned the result of the October election narrowly won by Lula and said his mission in Brazil was "still not over."
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