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Flavio Bolsonaro, the right-wing candidate who lost Brazil’s presidential runoff, declared Wednesday that he remains the country’s rightful leader after landing in the United States to begin what he described as a self-imposed exile.
In a statement on his X account, Bolsonaro said, “I am the elected president,” and accused his opponents of belonging to “a criminal organization that has established a tyranny.” He alleged “electoral fraud” and offered no evidence in the statement. “I will lead the opposition from here,” he said. In a later statement, he softened the claim, describing himself as the “leader” rather than the “president.”
His defiance points to continued turmoil in Brazil, where leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won Sunday’s runoff with 51.8 percent of the vote.
Bolsonaro, 45, a senator, landed on a private jet at Opa-Locka Executive Airport near Miami, accompanied by his wife and daughters. How the family reached U.S. soil is still emerging. Bolsonaro traveled through Argentina and Ecuador, even though he had been ordered to surrender his passports.
A police source told AFP that his Brazilian and diplomatic passports had been canceled. Italian documents seen by AFP show he has also held Italian nationality since 2023. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the family members were inspected and cleared in accordance with “applicable immigration laws and procedures.”
The travel ban came from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who led the case against Bolsonaro’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, and is a divisive figure on the Brazilian right. Flavio Bolsonaro had pledged to seek the justice’s impeachment if elected, an outcome that looked increasingly likely until Lula’s comeback in the runoff.
Lula, who turned 81 on Tuesday, called the departure “shameful.” “A person who sneaks out of their country must have something to hide,” he said at a birthday celebration in Brasilia. Brazilian police said Wednesday, however, that Bolsonaro is not considered a fugitive.
In Washington, President Donald Trump repeated his view that Brazil’s election was “very strange” but told reporters he “won’t get involved” in Bolsonaro’s claim to the presidency. Trump’s administration has strong ties to both Flavio Bolsonaro and his father, who is under house arrest in Brazil after trying to overturn his own 2022 election loss to Lula.
The route through Argentina has drawn controversy there. Opposition lawmakers demanded to know how Bolsonaro was able to transit the country. Argentine authorities said he carried valid travel documents, but lawmaker Agustin Rossi said officials have asked chief of cabinet Diego Santilli to give parliament details.
Bolsonaro is under investigation in Brazil over alleged corruption and money laundering, and his current parliamentary immunity is about to expire. The most prominent case concerns “Dark Horse,” an unreleased biopic of his father starring U.S. actor Jim Caviezel.
In May, the outlet Intercept Brasil published audio recordings in which Bolsonaro negotiated roughly $24 million in financing for the film with banker Daniel Vorcaro, who is jailed in one of Brazil’s biggest fraud cases. Before the recordings surfaced, Bolsonaro had denied knowing Vorcaro or that Vorcaro had financed the movie. In July, the Supreme Court ordered an investigation into whether the financing involved corruption, money laundering or the illegal movement of currency. Bolsonaro has since acknowledged that Vorcaro funded the film but says it was a private business deal that was “completely legal.”
Police are also investigating whether Bolsonaro laundered money and moved funds out of the country with his close friend, the lawyer Willer Tomaz.
Jair Bolsonaro likewise never conceded defeat to Lula in 2022. He left Brazil on the eve of Lula’s inauguration and returned about three months later.
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