Facts
- Flávio Bolsonaro left Brazil on Tuesday, October 27, with his wife and two daughters, two days after losing the presidential runoff to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
- According to Argentine officials and flight-tracking data cited by CBS News, he traveled first to Argentina and then by private plane to Guayaquil, Ecuador, before landing in Miami on Wednesday morning, October 28.
- A senior State Department official told CBS News that Bolsonaro and his family would receive U.S. visas.
- On Sunday, Brazil’s Supreme Court issued a sealed order requiring him to surrender his regular and diplomatic passports. He was served Monday, and the deadline passed at noon Tuesday. It is unclear whether he complied.
- Bolsonaro has not conceded. In a letter posted on X, he called the results illegitimate, said he left because of what he called the politicized use of justice in Brazil, and thanked President Trump for welcoming his family.
- Trump told reporters Wednesday that it would be fine with him for Bolsonaro to come to the United States. On Monday, Trump suggested without evidence that Brazil’s election was rigged.
- His brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, was convicted in absentia in June of illegally lobbying the Trump administration and sentenced to four years in prison.
- Their father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup after the 2022 election.
- President Lula criticized Bolsonaro’s departure, saying a person who leaves the country secretly must have something to hide, according to Agence France-Presse as cited by CBS News.
Source Read CBS News’ full report here.
Image Aerial view of Miami International Airport in 2026 by Quintin Soloviev, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
