WASHINGTON — Flávio Bolsonaro, the right-wing candidate who lost Brazil’s presidential runoff on Sunday, has fled the country and is on a plane to the United States, according to two U.S. officials cited by USA TODAY.
A senior State Department official said Washington would let him and his family enter the country.
“The State Department will issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the United States,”
Bolsonaro left despite a court order barring him from leaving Brazil. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had ordered him to surrender both his regular and diplomatic passports while he faces a money-laundering investigation, according to The Times. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing in that case.
He had been missing since the early hours of Tuesday, The Times reported. Speculation that he had crossed into Argentina near Iguaçu Falls and flown on from there was not borne out. Argentine officials had no record of him entering the country.
Congressman Mauricio Marcon, a Bolsonaro ally, told Brazilian media the senator would “lead the opposition from abroad.” Marcon added that Bolsonaro’s party, now the largest in both houses of Congress, would pursue impeachment proceedings against Moraes.
Bolsonaro lost the Oct. 25 runoff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who won 51.79% of the vote, according to USA TODAY. He refused to concede and called for the result to be annulled after the Supreme Court extended voting by two hours in a late decision that, by several accounts, sowed confusion at polling stations. On Monday night, his Liberal Party acknowledged the result.
He is the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest after he was convicted over an attempted coup. Flávio Bolsonaro’s younger brother Eduardo has lived in Texas since 2025 and suggested on Oct. 23, before the runoff, that his brother should flee Brazil if he lost.
President Donald Trump did not formally endorse Bolsonaro, but he questioned the count in remarks to reporters on Monday. “It looked like another rigged election, frankly,” Trump said. “I thought it had a very bad look, the way it was tabulated.”
During the campaign, Lula accused the Trump administration of meddling in the election to support Bolsonaro. The State Department rejected the allegation as baseless. Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party did not respond to a request for comment, and his spokesman and campaign manager, Rogério Marinho, did not comment on the departure or the visa decision.
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