‘It’s not just Flávio’: is surname-dropping son downplaying Bolsonaro connection?

Many Brazilians believe there is a ploy to free the younger Bolsonaro from baggage of his father’s name to return the family to power He possesses one of the most famous family names in Latin American politics. But when the Brazilian senator took to the stage at a conservative conference in Grapevine, Texas, last weekend it was only his forename that was on people’s lips. “Flávio! Flávio! Flávio!” the audience shouted as the 44-year-old politician announced he would run for president in order to fight the “radical environmental and woke” agendas he claims have made Brazil awful again. “Let me look you in the eyes and tell you​: we will win​,” the surname-less senator said in halting​ English, read from a teleprompter machine. The Flávio in question is Flávio Bolsonaro, the oldest son of the disgraced former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest after receiving a 27-year jail sentence for trying to overturn the result of the 2022 election. As the younger Bolsonaro seeks to catapult his family back to the pinnacle of Brazilian politics in this year’s contest, many believe he is intentionally downplaying his parentage in an attempt to shake o