Bolsonaro in US to cement alliance with Trump

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro arrived in Washington on Sunday to meet with his US counterpart Donald Trump and cement a budding conservative-populist alliance that, in part, aims to ramp up pressure on Venezuela.

The far-right leader flew out of Brasilia early Sunday with six ministers, among them Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and Justice Minister Sergio Moro, Brazilian media reported. They touched down at Joint Base Andrews, on the outskirts of Washington, at 3:40 pm.

It was Bolsonaro’s first trip abroad for a bilateral meeting since taking office on January 1. He atended the Davos summit in Switzerland in January.

Bolsonaro, who will also meet in Washington with the head of the Organization of American States (OAS), is scheduled to return to Brazil on Tuesday.

Outside the White House Sunday aternoon, dozens of demonstrators gathered to protest the visit -- holding signs including one that accused Bolsonaro of being a “murderer” over apparent links to suspects in the murder of rights activist Marielle Franco. Police have said those ties are coincidental.

A Trump-bolsonaro bond could see the leaders of the Americas’ two most populous democracies working in concert on a range of regional issues.

Most pressing is the crisis in Venezuela, where the United States and Brazil -- and dozens of other countries -- have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president with the goal of pushing President Nicolas Maduro from power.

The tough-talking Bolsonaro has long expressed his admiration for Trump. He echoes the US leader in spurning multilateral organizations and letist politics, while promoting businesses over environmental concerns at home.

Their shared nationalist sentiment can be seen in another relationship: that of Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo, who is a federal lawmaker, with Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon.

Eduardo Bolsonaro announced in early February that he was part of the Brussels-based group known as The Movement, which Bannon set up to promote far-right nationalistic values and tactics.

The older Bolsonaro announced on Saturday that one key result of his current trip would be the signing of an agreement under which the United States might gain access to a satellite launching base in Brazil near the equator.