Flávio Bolsonaro Leaves Brazil for the U.S. After Election Defeat
Seven Lights
Flávio Bolsonaro, a Brazilian senator and the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, has left Brazil days after losing Sunday’s presidential runoff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, according to Brazilian and Argentine reports. Allies told the Brazilian site Metrópoles that he would land in Florida on Tuesday afternoon and planned to request political asylum, adding that the Trump administration had been informed.
His departure came before an 11 a.m. Tuesday deadline to hand his passports to federal police. A Supreme Court justice had canceled the documents minutes after the runoff result and barred him from leaving the country as part of a criminal case in which police are investigating an alleged money-laundering operation. Bolsonaro denied wrongdoing in the probe. In a video posted Monday he said he had never thought about leaving the country. “I will hand over my passports and defend myself against this travesty, which is a clear attempt to intimidate me,” he said. He did not comply.
The Argentine news agency Telam reported that Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters entered Argentina and boarded a private flight bound for Guayaquil, Ecuador, operated by the Buenos Aires company Baires Fly. A senior Brazilian Federal Police official said he had not exited Brazil through any regular migration point. Reuters reported that one source close to the family said Bolsonaro had landed in Florida. A State Department source told the agency that it “will issue visas to Flavio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the United States.”
The Supreme Court cited the risk of flight and Bolsonaro’s “significant financial resources” in ordering the passports seized, according to a ruling seen by Reuters. The senator, who has held Italian citizenship since 2023 and reportedly possesses an Italian passport, loses his immunity from prosecution when his Senate term ends in February. Brazilian police are investigating claims about how he left the country.
Bolsonaro’s candidacy had been cleared only in September and his defeat on Sunday capped a turbulent campaign. His departure appeared to catch his own aides by surprise, and President Lula’s government has offered no public comment on the senator’s whereabouts beyond noting that the investigations remain open.