- Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro fled Brazil through Argentina and Ecuador and has landed in the U.S.
- He left despite a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports amid a money-laundering investigation he denies.
- Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called the escape shameful and suggested Bolsonaro has something to hide.
- President Trump approved of Bolsonaro’s arrival, and the U.S. granted visas to him and his family.
- The episode threatens to deepen tensions between Brazil and the U.S. over alleged American meddling in Brazilian politics.
In a dramatic getaway that reads more like a political thriller than a concession speech, defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro bolted the country Tuesday night with his wife and two daughters, crossing into Argentina by land, then boarding a private jet for Ecuador and eventually Miami. The 45-year-old senator lost Sunday’s runoff election to incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by a margin of 51.79% to 48.21%, but rather than comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court order to surrender his passports amid money-laundering investigations, he simply vanished.
Now on U.S. soil, Bolsonaro’s flight has sparked fury from Lula, who accused the Bolsonaro family of treating Brazil like a second homeland and suggested the senator has something to hide. The Trump administration has granted visas to Bolsonaro and his family.
Lula blasts ‘disrespectful’ exit after court demanded his passports
Lula did not mince words Tuesday, calling the candidate’s escape shameful. At an event marking his 81st birthday in Brasília, Lula took aim at the whole clan, according to a translation by the Guardian: “Brazil is their second homeland. Their first homeland is licking the boots of the US, as they’ve become accustomed to doing.”
In remarks reported by CNN Brasil, Lula questioned what weighs on a person’s conscience after losing an election and fleeing his own country. “If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear,” he said. “Someone who secretly leaves the country surely has something to hide.”
The Brazilian Supreme Court had ordered Flávio Bolsonaro to turn in his passports, diplomatic as well as regular, by midday Tuesday as part of a money-laundering probe. He has denied the allegations, saying after receiving the order that he would defend himself against what he called a “travesty” and a clear attempt at intimidation. He never handed them over, and federal police have since canceled them, CNN Brasil reported, though allies say he also holds an Italian passport. But by Tuesday night, he was already across the border.
A secret escape through Argentina and Ecuador
The senator and his family slipped into Argentina via the Tancredo Neves International Bridge, a key crossing into the province of Misiones, at 10:50 p.m. Tuesday. Argentina’s migration authority said the family carried valid documents and had no legal barriers to entry. Forty minutes later, they boarded a private jet operated by Baires Fly S.A., which took off for Guayaquil, Ecuador, shortly after midnight. Flight data shows the plane reached Guayaquil around 4 a.m. Wednesday before quickly heading on to Miami’s Opa-locka Executive Airport.
The timing of the escape remains murky. Allies last saw Bolsonaro around 6 p.m. Monday, roughly 29 hours before he turned up at the Argentine border. Nobody seems to know where he spent that time or how he covered the roughly 19-hour road trip from Brasília without detection. Critics are now asking how Brazil’s federal police let him slip away.
Trump approves of Bolsonaro’s move, deepening U.S.-Brazil rift
President Donald Trump welcomed the move, calling Bolsonaro and his family “fine people.” Talking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on his way back from a Texas campaign swing, Trump described the Brazilian election as really strange and terrible, though he said he took no side. A senior U.S. State Department official confirmed visas would be issued to Bolsonaro and his family.
The episode threatens to widen the gulf between the hemisphere’s two most populous nations. Lula has charged that Washington is in cahoots with the Bolsonaros to restore the family to power—a charge amplified by Reuters reporting on a U.S. State Department campaign to bring the Bolsonaros back into office ahead of Sunday’s vote. Some in Lula’s government also suspect the senator’s allies spent Tuesday planting word that he was already headed to the U.S., to throw everyone off his real route through Argentina.
Close ally Paulo Figueiredo says Bolsonaro will hold a press conference Thursday in Miami, where he will presumably explain why a candidate who said he had “never thought about leaving the country” suddenly flew halfway across the hemisphere under cover of night. According to a Trump adviser who spoke to CNN, administration officials knew Monday that Bolsonaro faced a 24-hour passport deadline and let him know America’s door was open. Americans might have a question of their own: why is Washington picking favorites in another country’s election, then rolling out the welcome mat when its candidate loses?
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