Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro wrote in a letter posted on X after he landed in Miami that he did not flee Brazil and will lead the opposition from the United States, three days after losing the presidential runoff to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Writing in Portuguese, Bolsonaro addressed Brazilians and the international community as the leader of Brazil. “I did not flee Brazil, I left for Brazil’s sake,” he wrote, claiming he could not lead while silenced, jailed and censored, as he says his father is. He also cited others who fought for their countries from abroad, including Charles de Gaulle and José Martí.
Bolsonaro then thanked President Donald Trump, the US government and Argentine President Javier Milei, and said his family is safe in the US. He told lawmakers and governors he helped elect, including Sen. Rogério Marinho, whom he called his candidate for Senate president, “I will lead the opposition from here.”
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The family left Brasília on Tuesday and crossed into Argentina at 10:50 p.m. over the Tancredo Neves bridge, Argentina’s migration agency said, and then they boarded a private jet within the hour. Flight-tracking data shows the plane touching down in Guayaquil, Ecuador, around 4 a.m. local time and leaving minutes later for Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, where the family landed at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
In the letter, he alleged the runoff was stolen, pointing to an order from Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin, Lula’s former lawyer, that extended voting from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. nationwide, and said the order arrived after polls had closed. Zanin previously clarified that the extension covered only stations still open. Both campaigns had sought more time, Lula’s over bus shortages and Bolsonaro’s over rain and flooding in some municipalities.
Read: Bolsonaro Rejects Brazil Runoff Result as Lula Prepares for Fourth Term
The president of the electoral court, Nunes Marques, said the ruling changed nothing in the process. Lula won by about 4.4 million votes.
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Bolsonaro also accused an unnamed judge of corruption, without evidence, and says there’s no arrest warrant against him because he has not committed a crime. He called the case against him a political witch hunt.
Read: Brazilian Justice Orders Flávio Bolsonaro to Surrender Passports a Day After Runoff Loss to Lula
The Federal Police served Bolsonaro the passport order Monday, requiring him to surrender his passports by noon Tuesday. Moraes’s order also covered foreign passports. Bolsonaro said that day he would comply and had never thought about leaving. The deadline passed, the police cancelled his Brazilian passports and told Moraes he had not complied.
Brazilian media report, citing anonymous police and diplomatic sources, that Bolsonaro crossed into Argentina on an Italian passport. He has held Italian citizenship since 2023, Italian authorities confirmed. Argentina’s migration agency says only that all four travelers carried valid documents. Brazil does not register departures at land borders, and police were not tracking him because there was no arrest warrant.
He then entered the US on his cancelled Brazilian diplomatic passport, according to reports that cite US Customs and Border Protection records. The passport number in those records matches the Senate’s list of diplomatic passports.
Lula called the departure “shameful.” Trump, in an earlier interview said he approves of Bolsonaro’s arrival and called the family “fine people.” A senior State Department official said Washington will grant visas to the family. Adrián Ravier, a spokesman for Milei’s government, said Bolsonaro made no asylum request and there was “nothing more to add.”
Three Workers’ Party lawmakers asked Moraes on Tuesday to jail Bolsonaro through preventive arrest and to put him on Interpol’s red notice list. Moraes has not ruled on the request as of this writing.
Moraes issued the passport order in a money-laundering investigation tied to Bolsonaro’s friend, lawyer Willer Tomaz. Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing.
His father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, went to Florida after losing the 2022 election and returned three months later. He is serving 27 years and three months under house arrest for plotting a coup. Flávio’s Senate term runs until January 31, 2027.
