Far-Right Loser Flávio Bolsonaro Flees Brazil After Election Defeat

Far-right presidential election loser Flávio Bolsonaro has fled Brazil and is on his way to Florida, allegedly to claim political asylum.

The defeated senator, who lost to leftwing incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a stunning defeat on Sunday, disappeared for 24 hours before Argentinian migration authorities announced he had entered the country on Tuesday night.

There, Bolsonaro boarded a flight to the United States which made a brief stop in Ecuador before heading to Miami, the Guardian reported on Wednesday.

The US State Department confirmed it would grant visas to the far-right candidate and his family on Tuesday, while president Donald Trump said he “approved” of Bolsonaro coming to the US..

There was confusion earlier in the week over Bolsonaro’s whereabouts, with conflicting media reports and some sources saying he was already on his way to the US, when in fact he was in Argentina.

On Tuesday night, Argentine migration authorities confirmed that Bolsonaro and his family had crossed the border with Argentina and then boarded a plane to Ecuador.

In a post on X, Argentina’s migration authorities said: “They did so with valid travel documentation and without any legal impediment to entering the country. Furthermore, the transits were recorded by the competent authority without incident.”

Bolsonaro’s apparent flight from Brazil comes after the Supreme Court ordered him to surrender his passport as part of an investigation into allegations of money laundering.

After he lost the election on Sunday, Bolsonaro insisted he would lead the opposition to the leftwing president. However, after Brazil’s Supreme Court gave him 24 hours to hand over his passport, he missed the deadline and boarded a flight.

Lula condemned Bolsonaro’s apparent decision to flee. “This is what the family Bolsonaro are like,” he said. “Brazil is their second homeland. Their first homeland is licking the boots of the US, as he’s become accustomed to doing.”

“I keep imagining what’s on the conscience of a citizen who just lost the elections and flees his country… He who owes nothing, fears nothing. A citizen who sneaks out of his country owes something. The act of leaving Brazil is shameful.”