Flávio Bolsonaro flies from Argentina toward Ecuador after Brazil runoff loss

Private flight from Argentina to Ecuador

Argentina's national migration service said Flávio Bolsonaro, his wife and their two daughters entered the country by land on the evening of Tuesday, 27 October, through the Tancredo Neves crossing in Misiones province. The agency said the family carried valid travel documents and faced no legal impediment. Shortly afterward they boarded a private aircraft chartered from Baires Fly SA, with Guayaquil in Ecuador as the declared destination. FlightRadar24 data showed the plane leaving Puerto Iguazú in northeastern Argentina overnight. The departure came three days after Bolsonaro lost the second-round presidential vote, which he has not acknowledged, and whether Ecuador is his final stop remains unclear.

Conflicting reports on his whereabouts

The Washington Post and CNN, citing their own sources, had reported that the senator reached American soil early on Tuesday evening. A State Department official had said the United States would issue visas to him and his family if they requested them. Bolsonaro's lawyers told the BBC they had no idea where he was, while Brazilian federal authorities checked border crossings to establish whether he had travelled to Argentina. Argentine authorities told the BBC that no entry record for him existed at any crossing, a statement the later migration service announcement contradicts. Donald Trump, asked by reporters, said he had heard Bolsonaro was in Argentina.

Trump told reporters he would approve Bolsonaro's admission to the United States. He described the Brazilian politicians as good people, called the election very strange, and said he had not taken sides. He added that he knew Lula and knew Flávio Bolsonaro a little, and that he knew the father very well.

Passport order and money-laundering probe

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Flávio Bolsonaro on Monday, 26 October, to hand over his passports within 24 hours. Bolsonaro had said earlier that he did not plan to leave Brazil and would stay to lead the opposition, calling the order an attempt at intimidation. When the deadline passed without the documents being surrendered, Brazilian authorities cancelled them. The investigation concerns alleged money laundering linked to a Brazilian lawyer accused of laundering more than $1 billion through a fraud scheme, and police have said Bolsonaro had access to bank accounts of the lawyer's company. Bolsonaro denies the allegations and has not been charged in that case, although a separate probe concerns the financing of a film about his father.

Background and political reactions

Jair Bolsonaro, the former president, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup, according to the reports. The US government has repeatedly argued that he is the victim of political persecution and has imposed sanctions on Brazilian judges and tariffs in retaliation. Outgoing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called his rival's departure shameful and said Flávio Bolsonaro should have stayed in Brazil to prove his innocence. Trump faces US midterm elections in the week of 2 November 2026, and polls cited in one report suggest Democrats could regain control of one or both chambers of Congress.