Reuters: Bolsonaro failed in London and New York and was unable to project the image of a statesman.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - A campaign gamble aimed at portraying him as a "statesman," President Jair Bolsonaro's trip to London and New York garnered newspaper coverage and social media discussions, but not the results his allies had hoped would translate into votes in this year's elections.

After a day and a half of the visit, the Brazilian president appeared in one of the main British newspapers, the conservative The Times: "Bolsonaro interrupts mourning to score political points," read the headline of an article about the video, distributed on social media, in which he tried to compare the price of gasoline in the United Kingdom with Brazil.

From his arrival in London, where he gave a speech to supporters gathered in front of the embassy in which he stated that he would win in the first round --despite all the polls to the contrary--, to scenes of his supporters cursing an Englishman who asked for respect on the day of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, everything brought the president more criticism than praise.

On social media, opponents of the president managed to occupy more space than his supporters, with negative hashtags gaining prominence on Twitter. The main one, "Bolsonaro World Shame," has remained among the top trending topics on the platform since Monday.

In New York, where he opened the United Nations General Assembly with his speech on Tuesday morning, Bolsonaro was greeted by supporters, but also by protests upon arriving at his hotel – which had to reinforce security to separate the two groups.

On Monday night, when Bolsonaro arrived in the city, the side of the UN building was covered with a projection protesting against the Brazilian president: "liar," "Brazilian shame," and "disgrace" were some of the words that accompanied photos of the president.

The protest was organized by the US Network for Democracy in Brazil, an organization that brings together NGOs, academics, and universities in defense of democracy in the country. The same protest, with projections on trucks that drove around the city, was carried out in Los Angeles during the Summit of the Americas, when Bolsonaro was present.

In his speech at the opening of the General Assembly, Bolsonaro spoke to Brazil, not to the world, focusing his remarks on internal numbers and facts that make little sense to an international audience, criticizing adversaries, and concluding his participation with the motto "God, Fatherland, Family, and Freedom."

"The main objective of this trip was electoral; it had no foreign policy objective whatsoever," says Oliver Stuenkel, professor of International Relations at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation. "The speech (at the United Nations) was purely domestic, without any pretense of Brazil being an actor that actively contributes to international issues, beyond electoral soundbites."

Stuenkel points out that there has apparently been a greater effort at moderation than in previous years, when Bolsonaro directly attacked other nations, such as France. At the same time, he highlights that the impact of what the president said is also less, since he is seen by the international community as an outgoing president.

Bolsonaro's own agenda, beyond that speech, was timid. Despite the efforts of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, the Brazilian president only managed to schedule a pro-forma meeting with Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, and with presidents such as Andrzej Duda of Poland, with whom he shares a far-right political line.

Regardless, the trip was a success among his supporters, who praised Bolsonaro's mere presence at Elizabeth's funeral and his speech at the United Nations. However, his campaign will have little opportunity to leverage the trip to convince undecided voters that Bolsonaro is, in fact, a statesman, and not a global pariah, as his main rival, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), accuses him of being: a decision by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), in response to requests from União Brasil and the PT, prohibited the use of the images in campaign material.

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