South Americaupdated 1h ago3 min read
MapFlávio Bolsonaro Lands In Miami After Fleeing Brazil Following Loss To Lula
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Bolsonaro arrived in Miami with his family after fleeing Brazil following election defeat to Lula. He left Brazil via Argentina and Ecuador despite bans and court orders to surrender passports.
49 outlets told this the same way.
Miami arrival after court ban
Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro and his family landed in Miami, Florida, after the defeated presidential candidate fled Brazil following his loss to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Al Jazeera’s John Holman said the group was “whisked away in an SUV” from Opa-Locka Executive Airport soon after arriving, with Bolsonaro stepping out of the plane shortly after it landed at around 9:30am local time. Bolsonaro arrived on a private aircraft from Guayaquil, Ecuador, at 09:25 local time at Opa-locka Executive Airport, after aircraft records operated by Baires Fly showed the Gulfstream G400 had previously flown from Puerto Iguazú, Argentina.
The Brazilian Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to hand over his passports to prevent him from leaving the country, and the documents were canceled after he did not hand them over. ABC News said the United States confirmed it would grant Bolsonaro and his family entry visas, after Bolsonaro missed a court deadline to turn in his passports and they were then canceled to federal police.
Route through Argentina and Ecuador
ABC News described a timeline in which Bolsonaro delivered a three-minute address near his electoral bunker in Brasília at 10:40pm on Sunday, October 25, then posted an Instagram video on Monday, October 26 claiming he had been handed a court order for him to surrender his passports. ABC News said that on Tuesday, October 27, local media reported a pilot confirmed a private jet was flown from Buenos Aires to the border town of Puerto Iguazú, and it said no confirmation was made that the aircraft then departed Argentina. Bolsonaro left Brazil accompanied by three people across the border with Argentina at Puerto Iguazú just around midnight on Tuesday, according to the Argentine National Directorate of Migration (DNM).
Argentine immigration authorities said the senator and his family entered the country late Tuesday night and less than an hour later boarded a private plane operated by Baires Fly destined for Guayaquil, Ecuador. AP said Bolsonaro left for Argentina on Tuesday with his wife and two daughters, then traveled to Ecuador before arriving in Florida, and it said the Trump administration granted United States visas a day earlier.
Diplomatic and legal fallout
Lula described Bolsonaro’s departure as “shameful” during his 81st birthday celebration in Brasilia, and ABC News quoted Lula saying the senator treated Brazil as his “second country”. ABC News said a senior official with the US State Department confirmed to the ABC that it would “issue visas to Flavio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the United States,” linking the US response to the court-ordered travel ban. The Supreme Court clarified it had not requested any search or seizure order against Bolsonaro nor a raid on his homes, and it said the Supreme Court indicated there was no judicial resolution in that sense nor any police action ordered by the court.
AP said Bolsonaro is under investigation by Brazil’s Supreme Court, accused of corruption, money laundering and tax evasion, and it said the court had ordered him to hand over his regular and diplomatic passports by noon Tuesday. Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his regular and diplomatic passports shortly after the election, and it said he would lose immunity from potential criminal prosecution in January since he gave up his seat to run for president.