Flávio Bolsonaro flies to Miami after Brazil runoff loss, declares himself leader

Runoff defeat and passport order

Flávio Bolsonaro lost the presidential runoff on 25 October to the incumbent leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The Supreme Court (STF), which is pursuing investigations against him, had given him 24 hours to hand over his passport. He did not comply, and once the deadline passed Brazilian authorities cancelled his documents and put border guards on alert, but he was already outside the country. A court had banned him from leaving Brazil. The proceedings against him cover alleged foreign financing of his campaign, money laundering and tax evasion, and he has not been charged with any offence.

The contested result

Lula won just under 51.8% of valid votes, against just over 48.2% for Bolsonaro, according to figures from the TSE electoral court. The margin is reported as 4.4 million votes in one account and about 4.5 million in another. Bolsonaro has refused to accept the result and argues that the TSE, which he says is controlled by Lula, extended voting by two hours. His father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup after the 2022 election, according to naTemat. On arrival in Miami, Flávio Bolsonaro declared himself the country's leader and described the vote as a coup and a "mathematical impossibility".

The charter flight from Argentina

Argentine newspapers, citing La Nación, reported that on Monday, 26 October, an American intermediary phoned the charter firm Baires Fly to book a flight for eight Brazilian passengers from Puerto Iguazú to Miami. The firm did not know the intermediary and demanded payment in advance of about $140,000. Within two hours a Gulfstream G400 with two pilots and a flight attendant was ready to depart from Buenos Aires. The aircraft reached Puerto Iguazú before midnight, but the planned 2 a.m. departure was missed because the Brazilian passengers never appeared, and the crew went back to a hotel. The plane left after midnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, 27 to 28 October, with four people on board: Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters, with a stopover in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The same dailies reported that the Trump administration was actively involved in planning the trip. The family reached the airport in a white van with Brazilian plates, and it is unclear whether they drove the whole route from Brasília, a journey of about 20 hours by car.

Arrival in Miami and reactions

Bolsonaro landed at Miami-Opa Locka airport on the morning of Wednesday, 28 October, while photographers recorded aides and bodyguards holding umbrellas to shield his face. He thanked Donald Trump and Argentine president Javier Milei for helping him leave Brazil, and he and his family were issued US visas in Miami. Trump told reporters before flying to Ohio on Wednesday evening that the United States had let Bolsonaro into the country, that he would not get involved, and that the elections had been very strange. He said the family had been treated very unfairly in Brazil, and that he had not taken sides in the vote. Asked about Bolsonaro's claim to lead Brazil, Trump declined to comment. Brazilian authorities are reportedly preparing arrest warrants against him, according to naTemat, while he remains subject to several proceedings in Brazil.