Defeated Flávio Bolsonaro flees Brazil for Miami despite travel ban

Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro fled his country following his defeat in the presidential election and arrived in Miami on Tuesday.

According to a report by the O Globo newspaper, Bolsonaro was met upon his arrival in the US by his brother Eduardo.

Eduardo had moved to the US last year to lobby President Donald Trump to assist their father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting a coup, and had lived there ever since.

A senior State Department official said early Tuesday that the US would grant visas to Flávio and his family.

Facing multiple criminal investigations in Brazil, Flávio Bolsonaro had been ordered to surrender his passports to the Federal Police by Tuesday, but failed to do so, according to a police official familiar with the matter.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, whom the Bolsonaro family has long accused of political persecution, had demanded the surrender of the documents out of concern that the senator was a flight risk.

Bolsonaro’s loss to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s runoff election dealt a heavy blow to the family, which had sought to establish a political dynasty in Brazil.

The senator had made the release of his father Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup after his 2022 election defeat, the central theme of his campaign.

Speaking to reporters early Wednesday after returning from a campaign trip in Texas, Trump said he would approve Bolsonaro’s entry into the US, though he added that he thought Bolsonaro was in Argentina.

Speaking in Texas on Tuesday afternoon, Trump avoided mentioning Bolsonaro, but repeated his unsubstantiated claims that the Brazilian election was rigged.

After criticizing Democrats as “the biggest election riggers”, Trump added, “Brazil is pretty good at that too.”

The US leader has long been an ally of the Bolsonaro family and had imposed tariffs on Brazilian goods last year in an unsuccessful attempt to help Jair Bolsonaro avoid prosecution in his coup case.

The Trump administration did not officially endorse Bolsonaro’s presidential bid. However, according to The New York Times, the State Department under Secretary of State Marco Rubio had worked behind the scenes ahead of the vote to strengthen Bolsonaro’s standing in Brazil.

On Tuesday morning, neither the police nor allies had any information regarding Flávio Bolsonaro’s whereabouts, after Infobae reported that he had crossed into Argentina and planned to travel to the US from there.

Brazilian police have no official record of Bolsonaro leaving Brazil, and the spokesperson for Argentine President Javier Milei denied that Flávio Bolsonaro had entered the country.

Several Bolsonaro allies told Bloomberg that they had tried to contact him but received no response.

“Fleeing Brazil is a disgraceful act,” Lula said at an event celebrating his 81st birthday.

Bolsonaro faces at least two federal investigations into money laundering allegations, one of which stems from his ties to the former owner of Banco Master SA, who was implicated in the largest bank fraud case in Brazil’s history.

The elder Jair Bolsonaro had also left for the US following his election defeat. He returned months later and was barred from holding public office for eight years for spreading false claims about Brazil’s electronic voting system ahead of the election, before later being convicted of plotting a coup.

On Monday, Flávio Bolsonaro abandoned plans to challenge the election results and posted a social media video stating that the Supreme Court had barred him from leaving Brazil.

Meanwhile, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, Moraes’s decision caused unease among members of the Supreme Court as well as officials in Lula’s government.

According to those sources, the Lula administration had wanted to focus on calming the country and moving past the polarization that flared during back-to-back electoral battles between the leftist leader and a member of the Bolsonaro family.

The administration viewed the move by Moraes, a polarizing justice who presided over Jair Bolsonaro’s case and has long faced censorship accusations from the Brazilian right, as counter to those aims.

Early Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino ordered federal authorities to investigate possible illegal foreign funding for Bolsonaro’s presidential campaign, including through a group linked to US Vice President JD Vance.

The justice emphasized that the order did not prove illegal foreign funding had taken place, but noted that allegations raised during Brazil’s presidential campaign warranted an investigation.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Argentine government spokesperson Adrian Ravier said Bolsonaro had not requested asylum in Argentina.