After considering shortening his visit to Brazil, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to stick to the original schedule and attend Jair Bolsonaro's inauguration on January 1st.
Netanyahu flies on Thursday (27th) to Rio de Janeiro and meets with the president-elect and cabinet members the next day.
On Sunday (30th), he is scheduled to travel to Brasília, where he will attend the inauguration ceremony.
Sources told Folha that Hungary's controversial prime minister Viktor Orbán also confirmed his presence and will join other 11 heads of State at the ceremony, which traditionally doesn't attract many foreign countries' leaders because of its January 1st date.
Netanyahu, the most notable politician attending the event, settled on attending Bolsonaro's inauguration after the dissolution of the Israeli parliament on Wednesday (26th), and the confirmation of elections on April 9th.
The Israeli politician seriously considered shortening his trip to Brazil, a first for a prime minister in office, and fly back home on the 30th. Until Wednesday (26th), however, there was no official confirmation.
Netanyahu is extra-officially putting his schedule on hold -- except for the meeting with Bolsonaro on Friday - due to the political crisis in his country. He had to anticipate the November elections to April to reorganize his political coalition, even if he still considered the favorite candidate.
Bolsonaro's team says security reasons forbid a full disclosure of all heads of State confirmed to attend the inauguration. So far, the list of state leader participating includes Sebastián Piñera (Chile), Iván Duque (Colombia) and Mario Abdo (Paraguay), who are bound to align with Bolsonaro in the political right. Maurício Macri from Argentina will not attend but will visit Brazil in January. Tabaré Vazquez from Uruguay and Martín Vizcarra from Peru complete the South-American list of attendees.
Translated by NATASHA MADOV