Multiple Brazilian and Argentine news outlets are reporting, without confirmation from his camp or either government, that Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro has left Brazil and is bound for Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after refusing to hand over his passports to authorities seeking to seize them.
Bolsonaro, son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro, lost Sunday’s runoff election to incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who turned 81 on Tuesday and is set to govern for another four years. The vote was clouded by controversy after a top court justice, a former defense lawyer for Lula, issued an unprecedented order extending voting hours from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.—an order issued after the original 5:00 p.m. deadline had already passed, meaning only polling stations that had defied closing orders got to stay open later.
Bolsonaro initially said Sunday he would challenge the results and demand a redo. By Monday, in a video posted from an undisclosed location, he reversed course, saying he would instead pursue a “cassation”—a legal order declaring Lula and Vice President-elect Gerald Alckmin unfit for office. He also denied at that time that he had considered leaving the country.
The senator has said Lula’s government moved to strip him of his passport within hours of the election, tied to a corruption investigation. Lula himself was convicted in 2017 of misappropriating government funds to buy a luxury beachfront property while president, a conviction later overturned on a technicality in 2021, clearing the way for his current run.
Conflicting reports, no confirmation
The outlet Metropoles, citing unnamed “people close to the family,” reported Tuesday afternoon that Bolsonaro was in the air en route to Florida, and that he had told his campaign manager, Rogério Marinho, he was “cooling [his] head.” Neither the Bolsonaro camp nor the Brazilian government has confirmed that account, and earlier Tuesday reports said there was no immigration record showing he had left Brazil at all.
Jovem Pan, a right-leaning Brazilian outlet, separately reported that police sources confirmed Bolsonaro had left the country for the United States, though it did not claim Argentina was involved in his route. The outlet reported that even many of Bolsonaro’s own allies were caught off guard.
“The broadcaster’s report[s] revealed that only members of the hardcore nucleus around the senator had knowledge of his movements. A great number of his allies were taken by surprise by the news.”
Earlier Tuesday, the Argentine outlet Infobae had reported that a private Gulfstream G400 jet stopped in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, allegedly preparing to carry Bolsonaro onward to Fort Lauderdale. Infobae later walked that back, reporting the flight to the U.S. was canceled due to “the absence of one of the four passengers, according to Airport Security Police.” Brazilian and Argentine officials told Infobae they had no information Bolsonaro had left Brazil or entered Argentina, and flight trackers showed the plane never left Puerto Iguazú on Tuesday.
The Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported that Argentina’s National Immigration Directorate also has no record of Bolsonaro entering the country. O Globo did report, however, that Bolsonaro had refused to surrender his two passports—a regular Brazilian passport and a diplomatic passport issued to senators—and that some reports suggest authorities responded by invalidating them, which would in theory bar him from using them to travel.
Allies who haven’t weighed in
Argentine President Javier Milei had not congratulated Lula on his win as of press time. President Donald Trump has said the Brazilian election “looked rigged.” Either government could, in theory, choose to overlook canceled travel documents and grant political asylum to an opposition politician they view as targeted by his own government—but no such action has been reported.
