Brazil’s Flavio Bolsonaro flees to US after election loss

Defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro left Brazil and is traveling to the United States despite a court order banning him from exiting the country, US media reported Tuesday.

The son of jailed ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro lost elections to incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday and refused to concede defeat.

The right-wing senator on Monday said a Supreme Court justice had ordered him to hand over his passports. Bolsonaro is under investigation for alleged corruption and money laundering, and with his election loss is also set to lose his parliamentary immunity.

The 45-year-old was heading to Florida, CNN reported Tuesday, citing an anonymous official source. Other US media confirmed he was heading to the country.

The US State Department said Tuesday that it would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family, without confirming his travel plans.

A police source told AFP that the senator’s Brazilian and diplomatic passports had been canceled, 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 in Brasilia on Tuesday.

“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.”

– Scare tactic –

Flavio 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. I will surrender my passports and defend myself against this travesty,” he said in the video posted on Instagram.

US President Donald Trump, a close ally of Jair Bolsonaro, on Monday said Brazil’s elections were “rigged” following the defeat of Bolsonaro junior.

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 percent 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 interference in the election by Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, claiming “algorithmic manipulation.”

Meta denies taking any actions to favor 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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