Flávio Bolsonaro, the '01' and political heir of Jair Bolsonaro, seeks the presidency of Brazil

When your nickname is 01 you can sense that you are destined for important things. This is what happened to Flávio Bolsonaro, the first-born of former President Jair Bolsonaro and in charge of returning the family to the Planalto Palace, to the Presidency of Brazil.

Flávio was always noted as the most intelligent of Bolsonaro's four sons, a senator with polished and kind manners, although, if necessary, with the vehemence and aggressiveness typical of the man who is now serving a sentence of 27 years and three months in prison for having led a failed coup attempt.

A 45-year-old lawyer, married and father of two children, Flávio is the eldest of the Bolsonaro family, followed by Eduardo, Carlos and Renán, who are, in the nomenclature imposed by the father, ex-military, 02, 03 and 04. He likes to be called moderate, but months ago, during an interview with the Financial Times (FT), he showed his subordination to his father with a phrase that was easy to understand: "How do you compare Pelé's son with Pelé himself?"

The "son of Pelé" is a candidate thanks to the finger of Jair, who from house arrest decided that it was he, and not his wife Michelle, who would challenge Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for the Presidency. And that designation was followed by a 01 oath: "May God forbid that you ever have a father who is persecuted and imprisoned. Dad, I will honor you and you will place the presidential sash on me next January."

The amnesty is part of Flávio Bolsonaro's program, which denies what the Brazilian Justice proved: that his father was the leader of an attempted coup d'état between 2022 and 2023 to prevent Lula from assuming the Presidency, or to eject him from it.

No Political Science expert would use Bolsonaro's electoral campaign as an example to follow: the designation by the father's finger was followed by a loud confrontation with his stepmother, a year younger than him. Michelle accused him of mistreating her, left the campaign and declared herself resigned. Quite a problem, because the former first lady is a powerful speaker and a rallying figure, especially among the evangelical faithful, who in Brazil number tens of millions. Reconciliation, not without effort, would come, but then the next scandal appeared: Dark Horse.

What's that? The name of a feature film starring American actor Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) that reflects the life of Jair Bolsonaro, the target of an attack during the 2018 election campaign. The problem is that this film was financed by Daniel Vorcaro, a true no longer a horse, but a black specter, of Brazilian politics. Vorcaro is a former banker, now in prison, for a financial scam estimated at 10 billion dollars. His tentacles reach all levels of power in Brazil, there is practically no one of relevance who has not had a relationship with Vorcaro, who contributed at least 12 million dollars for the film. The suspicion is that this money was actually used in part to finance the 01 electoral campaign. Lula's entourage promises new incriminating revelations against Bolsonaro once the second round of elections approaches, on October 25.

A deputy from the Workers' Party (PT), Lindbergh Farias, assured that, if Bolsonaro wins, Brazil will become an "American colony." What may sound like an exaggeration is anchored in something undeniable, the closeness of the Bolsonaro family to the Trump clan.

Jair left Brazil on December 28, 2022, three days before the date on which he was to hand over the Presidency to Lula. He was seen eating chicken with his hands in a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Orlando, the city of Disney World. In parallel, Eduardo, then a congressman and rising figure of the clan, maintained frequent contacts with the White House and the State Department so that the Trump Government would sanction Lula's, which happened with the imposition of 50% tariffs on the South American giant's exports. Today Eduardo is disgraced and faces problems with Justice, although Brazilian media assure that, if his brother wins, which polls say is possible, he will be the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.

And, if that happened, things would go further: Jair Bolsonaro's time in power would no longer have been an exception, a parenthesis in the history of Brazilian presidents. The Bolsonaros, with four years left in the Planalto Palace and Michelle in the bedroom, would become a political dynasty.