Rubio says US not directly involved in Flavio Bolsonaro’s flight from Brazil

ATLANTA, United States (AFP) -- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that Washington was not directly involved in Flavio Bolsonaro's arrangements to leave Brazil after his election loss.

Bolsonaro, who lost his bid to be president in Sunday's run-off vote, arrived with his family in the US on Wednesday after a court ordered his passports be seized amid multiple investigations against him.

"He had previously held a visa, and the president made a decision to allow him to enter the country," Rubio told a press conference in Atlanta, Georgia, where he hosted G20 foreign ministers for a two-day meeting.

But Rubio added that "the US government was not involved directly" in arrangements Bolsonaro made to leave his country.

Following the vote, the 45-year-old bolted from Brazil via Argentina and Ecuador in a plane that some US media, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, reported was chartered by Jason Miller, an adviser to US President Donald Trump.

The plane that whisked the Bolsonaro family to the United States was paid for by an intermediary from a US bank account, the head of the airline has told AFP.

The White House has not commented on the flight, but Trump has called the Brazilian election "disgraceful."

A Brazilian diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Argentina's diplomatic representative had been summoned for a "routine meeting" to "provide explanations" on the flight.

Argentina's foreign minister later denied that Brazil had asked Buenos Aires to explain its role in the operation.

Since arriving in the US, Bolsonaro has claimed to be the true leader of Brazil and said that he left the country because he was a victim of "persecution."

Flavio Bolsonaro's father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for plotting a coup after his 2022 re-election loss.