MIAMI — Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro landed in South Florida on Wednesday morning, completing a hurried departure from his home country days after losing the presidential election to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro, 45, touched down at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport shortly before 9:30 a.m. local time aboard a private jet with his wife, Fernanda Antunes Figueira Bolsonaro, and two teenage daughters, Al Jazeera and The Guardian reported. The family departed the airfield in a dark sport utility vehicle under police escort without answering questions from waiting reporters.
A multistep journey across borders
The arrival in Florida capped more than a day of mystery surrounding the right-wing lawmaker’s whereabouts. Argentine immigration authorities confirmed that Bolsonaro and his family drove across the Tancredo Neves International Bridge linking Brazil and Argentina at 10:50 p.m. Tuesday. Officials in Buenos Aires said the travelers presented valid documentation and faced no restrictions on entering Argentina at that time.
Less than an hour after crossing the border, the family boarded a chartered Gulfstream IV aircraft operated by Baires Fly S.A. at Puerto Iguazú, according to Argentine migration authorities. The plane made a brief stop in Guayaquil, Ecuador, before continuing to the U.S., avoiding Brazilian airspace.
Brazilian authorities had previously cancelled Bolsonaro’s passports after he failed to meet a court-ordered deadline to surrender his travel credentials. Brazil’s Supreme Court had demanded the documents by midday Tuesday in connection with investigations into alleged corruption, tax evasion and money laundering, Fortune reported. The court is examining whether he laundered illicit funds tied to pension deductions through a sports gambling firm and took illegal payments from a banker, allegations he has denied.
U.S. visas and political reaction
The Trump administration granted visas to Bolsonaro and his immediate family members earlier in the week. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump described Bolsonaro and his relatives as “fine people” and criticized the election process, saying the race “was really strange, and I thought it was terrible.”
In a statement issued after reaching the U.S., Bolsonaro thanked the American and Argentine governments, alleging he was escaping political persecution and casting himself “not only to my 60 million voters, but the entire Brazilian people, that I am the elected president,” according to the BBC.
Lula, who won Sunday’s presidential runoff by roughly 4.4 million votes, sharply criticized the departure during remarks marking his 81st birthday in Brasília. Lula called the exit “shameful” and argued that “those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear.”
The move mirrors actions taken by the senator’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who traveled to Florida in late 2022 after his own election loss to Lula. The elder Bolsonaro eventually returned to Brazil, where he is currently serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for plotting a coup.
Paulo Figueiredo, an ally of the senator based in the U.S., said Bolsonaro was safe with his family and that a press conference would be held in Miami on Thursday to address the situation.
