Flávio Bolsonaro leaves Brazil, lands in U.S. after losing presidential election

Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro and his family left the country on Tuesday after he lost Brazil’s hotly contested presidential election over the weekend, and landed in Miami Wednesday morning. 

Earlier, a senior State Department official told CBS News that Bolsonaro and his family would receive U.S. visas.

Bolsonaro, an ally of President Trump, departed Brazil for the U.S. days after being defeated by incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s election. En route to the U.S., Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters first arrived in Argentina and then took a private plane to Guayaquil, Ecuador, according to Argentinian officials and flight tracking data.

In a letter to the Brazilian people posted on X, Bolsonaro called the election results illegitimate and accused the government of targeting him for persecution. 

“Facing the political weaponization of Justice in Brazil, I decided to move with my family to the United States, where we are safe. I personally thank President Trump and the American government for welcoming us,” he said in the letter, translated from the Portuguese. He added, “I want to make it clear: I did not flee Brazil; I left for the sake of Brazil.”

Silva said Tuesday it was “shameful” that Bolsonaro had fled Brazil.

“A person who sneaks out of their country must have something to hide,” Silva said, per Agence France-Presse. “The act of leaving Brazil is shameful.”

Bolsonaro’s brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lives in Texas, had publicly encouraged him to leave Brazil if he lost the election.

Bolsonaro has touted his relationship with Mr. Trump and visited the White House in May. The family connections go deeper: Brother Eduardo Bolsonaro was convicted in absentia in June of illegally lobbying the Trump administration and sentenced to four years in prison. A warrant was recently issued for his arrest.

Mr. Trump did not offer a full-throated endorsement of Bolsonaro in the runoff against Lula, as he has with some other right-of-center candidates in Latin America. But he suggested on Monday, without providing evidence, that Brazil’s election was “rigged.”

Mr. Trump told reporters early Wednesday that said he approves of Bolsonaro coming to the U.S., though he had heard Bolsonaro was in Argentina.

“It would be OK with me,” Mr. Trump said.

Bolsonaro’s decision to leave Brazil came as a deadline for him to surrender his regular and diplomatic passports expired at noon Tuesday. It remained unclear whether he had complied.

“This is what the Bolsonaro family is like: Brazil is their second nation, the U.S. is the first,” Lula said Tuesday, according to Reuters. 

Bolsonaro was served with the order to surrender his passports Monday, a day after his stunning loss. Bolsonaro said he received it outside the home where his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup following his 2022 election loss to Lula. After his 2022 defeat, Jair Bolsonaro fled Brazil for Florida. He returned three months later.

The sealed Supreme Court order, viewed by The Associated Press, was issued Sunday. Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat and has made unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud.

Lula, who turned 81 on Tuesday, received more than 64 million votes, compared with fewer than 60 million for Bolsonaro, a margin of nearly 4%.