
Former Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro has arrived in Miami with his family, exactly 48 hours after refusing to recognize Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's victory in the presidential election. His departure comes as Brazil's Supreme Court has opened an investigation into him over several legal issues.
According to official records, Bolsonaro is under investigation by Brazil's Supreme Court on charges related to alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in two separate cases. One of the reported cases involves a sports betting company that was allegedly used to launder fraudulent deductions from state pensions, while the other involves a multimillion-dollar distribution by a corrupt banker.
As part of these proceedings, the court had ordered him to surrender his ordinary and diplomatic passports by noon yesterday. Although it has not been officially confirmed whether this order was carried out, some of his allies stated that he also holds an Italian passport. For its part, the United States confirmed on Monday that it would grant visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family.
Recent events recall a similar scenario to that of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who also fled to Florida after losing the 2022 election to Lula, only to return to Brazil three months later. Convicted of attempted coup, he is currently under house arrest.
Details of the journey and diplomatic influence
Details of Flávio Bolsonaro's movement indicate a planned journey across the land border with Argentina. Argentine immigration authorities confirmed that Bolsonaro, his wife Fernanda Antunes Figueira Bolsonaro and their daughters, Carolina and Luiza, crossed the border via the Tancredo Neves International Bridge — one of the main points connecting Brazil to the province of Misiones.
Representatives of the immigration authority in Argentina explained that "those who entered had valid travel documents and did not encounter any legal obstacles to entering the country."
According to officials, shortly after immigration, the family boarded a private charter flight operated by Baires Fly SA, originally bound for Guayaquil, Ecuador. Data from flight tracking platform FlightRadar24 showed the plane landed in Guayaquil around 4 a.m. local time, before heading back to Opa-locka Executive Airport in Miami.
The event is expected to create new diplomatic friction between Brazil's re-elected president, Lula da Silva, and his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei, who had previously traveled to Brazil to support Bolsonaro's campaign. In Buenos Aires, opposition parties have reacted immediately.
The reactions from the Brazilian leadership were direct. President Lula spoke publicly about this development, stating: “I regret that he left Brazil, because he could have stayed here and proven that the accusations were false.” He concluded his reaction by calling the move “shameful.” “This act of leaving Brazil is shameful.”