SAO PAULO, Oct 28 — Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has left the country for the United States after losing Sunday's presidential election, three sources said today, with the US State Department expected to grant him and his family entry visas.
Bolsonaro, who has yet to concede defeat to leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left Brazil after refusing to comply with a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports.
The order relates to a money laundering investigation in which he denies wrongdoing.
The whereabouts of Flavio, his wife and their two daughters were not immediately clear. One source close to the family said Flavio had landed in Florida but declined to say where.
"The State Department will issue visas to Flavio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the United States," a senior State Department official said.
Brazil-US rift grows
Bolsonaro's departure threatens to deepen a rift between the two most populous nations in the Americas.
Lula has accused Washington of colluding with the Bolsonaro family to return them to power, while Reuters reported ahead of Sunday's election on a US State Department campaign to restore them to office.
Trump has previously alleged that Flavio's father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was a victim of judicial persecution in Brazil.
The elder Bolsonaro also travelled to the United States after refusing to concede defeat to Lula in 2022, when former US President Joe Biden was in office.
He eventually returned but was later sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup after his supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia.
Trump made no mention of Flavio Bolsonaro's departure when speaking to reporters on Monday but said the Brazilian vote "looked like another rigged election".
Speaking in Brasilia, Lula said he had just heard that Flavio had left the country and called his departure shameful, saying he should have stayed in Brazil and proved his innocence.
Bolsonaro had been favoured to win Sunday's presidential election but lost to Lula in a surprise result.
Ordered to hand over passports
On Monday, Bolsonaro was given 24 hours to surrender his passports, but they were cancelled after the deadline expired, two sources said.
In a court ruling seen by Reuters, the Supreme Court cited the risk of Bolsonaro fleeing Brazil and his "significant financial resources" when ordering the seizure of his passports.
Bolsonaro, who will lose his immunity from prosecution when his Senate term ends in February, said on Monday that he had no plans to flee.
"I have never thought about leaving the country," he said. "I will hand over my passports and defend myself against this travesty, which is a clear attempt to intimidate me."
His departure appeared to have caught his campaign manager off guard.
"We are surprised by the news because, just yesterday, we discussed the need for Flavio — given the 60 million votes he received — to take on this role as leader of the opposition," Senator Rogerio Marinho told reporters.
