Brazil's Flavio Bolsonaro arrives in US after election defeat
Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro and his family briefly entered Argentina before boarding a private flight bound for Ecuador.
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MIAMI/WASHINGTON: Defeated right-wing Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro arrived in Miami in the United States on Wednesday (Oct 28), Reuters TV images showed.
Bolsonaro lost Sunday's presidential election to leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and did not comply with a Supreme Court order to turn in his passports to federal police on Tuesday.
Bolsonaro had entered Argentina on Tuesday night before boarding a flight to Ecuador, the country's National Directorate of Migration said on X.
The 45-year-old entered Argentina "with valid travel documents and no legal impediment", it added, despite a court order banning his exit.
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Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters boarded "a private flight operated by the company Baires Fly S.A. bound for the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador," the government agency said.
According to data from the Flightradar24 website, the flight took off just after midnight (11am Singapore time) on Wednesday from the Argentine town of Puerto Iguazu in the country's northeast.
Baires Fly did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.
CNN and the Washington Post, each citing an anonymous source, had earlier reported that Bolsonaro had arrived in the US on Tuesday.
The US State Department was also cited by Reuters as saying that it would grant entry visas to Bolsonaro and his family, but did not confirm his travel plans.
Bolsonaro has been banned by Brazil's Supreme Court from leaving the country and ordered to hand over his passports.
He is under investigation for alleged corruption and money laundering, and with his election loss is also set to lose parliamentary immunity.
A police source told AFP that the Bolsonaro's Brazilian and diplomatic passports had been cancelled, adding that "there is no formal record of Flavio Bolsonaro leaving the country".
But he has held Italian nationality since 2023, according to an Italian parliamentary document seen by AFP.
Bolsonaro's campaign manager Rogerio Marinho expressed shock over reports that the defeated candidate had fled Brazil.
"We still don't have any news about his whereabouts," he told reporters Tuesday in Brasilia.
"I received a text message from him this morning, where he said he would let some time pass today and then would talk with us, and that was it," Marinho said.
"That was the only communication we had."
Separately, President Donald Trump was reported as saying on Wednesday that he approved of Bolsonaro coming to the United States after losing Sunday's presidential election.
"Well, I would approve," Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on his return from a campaign trip to Texas.
"The election was very strange, and I thought it was terrible. It's gotten bad reviews. You look at what happened to their market."
He added, "I think it's so terrible to see it. I didn't take sides, you know. I know them both. I know Lula. I know Flavio a little bit. I know the father very well."
Trump was referring to former president Jair Bolsonaro, whom he has previously alleged to have been a victim of judicial persecution in Brazil.
"The father was treated really badly. I thought, but I wasn't involved," Trump added. "That's Brazil. It's a different country."
"SHAMEFUL"
Lula called fleeing the country a "shameful" act.
"A person who sneaks out of their country must have something to hide. The act of leaving Brazil is shameful," he remarked in Brasilia during his 81st birthday celebration.
Bolsonaro said Monday that the ban on his exit from Brazil amounted to a scare tactic.
"I never had any intention of leaving the country," he said in a video posted on Instagram.
Flavio's brother Eduardo, a US-based former lawmaker, maintains close ties with the White House.
Last week, he told a US podcast that Flavio Bolsonaro should leave Brazil in the event of electoral defeat, given the active probes into his activities.
In his Monday statement, Lula's challenger also said he would lead the opposition to the leftist government.
Following Lula's victory with 51.8 per cent of the vote, Bolsonaro said he would seek to annul the result, citing the decision to extend polling hours over transportation difficulties that prevented some citizens from voting.
Lula had requested the extension, as had Bolsonaro over bad weather in parts of the country.
IN HIS FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS
All bets were on a Bolsonaro win after he came out on top in the first round of elections earlier this month.
He campaigned on a pledge to liberate his father, who is under house arrest for coup-plotting after his own electoral loss to Lula in 2022.
Jair Bolsonaro never conceded defeat and left the country on the eve of his rival's inauguration, only returning to Brazil three months later.
Separately on Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered police to investigate alleged foreign funding of Flavio Bolsonaro's campaign and other interference from abroad such as social media "manipulation".
Lula's campaign complained about election interference by Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, claiming "algorithmic manipulation".
Meta denies taking any actions to favour one side in the election, but previously said that some of Lula's campaign ads had been mistakenly deactivated due to technical errors.
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