Flavio Bolsonaro flees Brazil to US after election defeat

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 31 Oct, 12:35 · Archive

Brazil's defeated presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro has fled to Florida, citing persecution after losing to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, left Brazil for Florida on Wednesday after losing Sunday's election runoff to incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by more than four million votes. He posted a video message on Friday declaring he had fled due to persecution in Brazil.

Bolsonaro's passports were cancelled on Monday as part of a money laundering investigation. He recounted in the video how police informed him of the revocation as he left a visit to his father, who is under house arrest. He said he and his wife made the decision to leave 'without anyone knowing' and urged people not to identify anyone involved in his escape.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Bolsonaro travelled through Argentina and Ecuador to reach Miami. He crossed into Argentine territory at Puerto Iguazu, reportedly escorted by Argentinian airport security police led by President Javier Milei, before a private jet took him via Ecuador to the United States. The Independent World reports that the Trump administration reportedly arranged the charter jet. Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat and declared himself 'the elected president'.

How it is being reported

• Like father, like son: How Flavio Bolsonaro followed Jair’s footsteps fleeing election defeat for the USThe spitting image of his father, Flavio has taken another page out of the Bolsonaro playbook by leaving Brazil for Florida after losing the presidential election to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Alex Croft reportsIndependent World · 31 Oct, 12:19
• Flavio Bolsonaro posts video, says he fled Brazil due to ‘persecution’Brazil's defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro posted a video message on social media late Friday to declare he fled to the US because he was a victim of 'persecution'. Bolsonaro, who lost Sunday's election runoff to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, gave no details of how he left the country.France 24 · 31 Oct, 06:25

In this story: Flavio Bolsonaro · Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva · Jair Bolsonaro · Javier Milei · Donald Trump · Brazil · United States · Argentina

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log