Reports: Flavio Bolsonaro Lands in U.S. After Fleeing Brazil Through Argentina

Brazilian Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro and his family landed in Florida on Wednesday morning, hours after Argentina confirmed that they legally entered the country and boarded a flight toward Ecuador.

Jovem Pan and several other Brazilian outlets report that Bolsonaro, his wife Fernanda Antunes Figueira Bolsonaro, and two daughters landed at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport. According to Argentine and Brazilian outlets, the Bolsonaro family is expected to request political asylum in the United States.

The Brazilian senator and his family reportedly arrived on a Gulfstream G400 registered to Argentine company Baires Fly S.A.

Bolsonaro’s arrival in the U.S. reportedly occurs just hours after Argentine Security Ministry’s National Directorate of Migration confirmed in a brief social media statement that the Bolsonaros entered Argentina on late Tuesday night through the Tancredo Neves International bridge, a border crossing that connects Brazil’s Foz do Iguaçu with Argentina’s Puerto Iguazú.

The Directorate detailed that the Bolsonaros crossed the border with valid travel documentation and without any legal impediment to entering Argentina, and the crossings were recorded by the corresponding authorities without incident. Minutes later, the office further explained, Bolsonaro and his family boarded a private flight towards Guayaquil, Ecuador, as detailed in the flight plan.

Per the Argentine newspaper La Nación, Santiago Caputo, advisor to President Javier Milei, was present for the private aircraft’s takeoff. The flight reportedly arrived in Ecuador around 05:00 a.m. (EST).

The Colombian news channel NTN24, citing an unnamed U.S. State Department official, reported on Tuesday night that the United States would grant U.S. visas to Bolsonaro and his family and had authorized the family’s entry into America.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump said he he would approve of Flavio Bolsonaro coming to the United States.

“I think they’re fine people,” President Trump said. “The election was very strange, and I thought it was ​terrible. It’s gotten bad reviews. You look at what happened to their market.”

“I think it’s so ​terrible to see it. I didn’t take sides, you know. I know them both. I know Lula. I know Flavio a little bit. I know the father very well,” he added.

An unnamed police source who spoke to CNN Brasil on condition of anonymity reportedly affirmed that Bolsonaro entered Argentina using his Italian passport, while his wife and one of the daughters used their corresponding Brazilian passports. The second daughter reportedly used her Brazilian identity card to enter Argentina.

On Tuesday, rumors published on Brazilian and Argentine outlets indicated that Flavio Bolsonaro had refused to comply with a recent court order demanding he relinquish his passports and instead fled the country. Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes — known for his years-long persecution of conservatives in Brazil — signed the order to seize Bolsonaro’s passports just moments after the conservative Senator lost the October 25 presidential runoff election against socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. De Moraes reportedly justified the need to seize Bolsonaro’s passports and ban him from leaving the country by arguing that the measure is part of an investigation against Bolsonaro on corruption allegations.

Sen. Bolsonaro had initially announced on Sunday that he would challenge the results of the election, citing a controversy surrounding a sudden Sunday ruling issued by STF Justice Cristiano Zanin ordering the forced extension of voting hours from 05:00 p.m. to 07:00 p.m. on Sunday. The controversy was further fueled by the fact that Justice Zanin was President Lula’s personal lawyer when the socialist president was convicted and sentenced to prison for corruption. Zanin was appointed to the top court by Lula in June 2023, months after he took office for a third term.

On Monday, hours after the election, Bolsonaro published a video affirming that he would not challenge the results, but instead would seek a “cassation” order before the judiciary to deem Lula unfit to hold the office of President of Brazil. He had also denied having plans to flee from Brazil.

Hours before the confirmation of Bolsonaro’s departure from Brazil, President Lula Da Silva reportedly said that his rival’s departure from the country is “shameful,” and affirmed that, for the Bolsonaros, Brazil is their “second homeland,” referring to Bolsonaro’s friendship ties and affinity with the United States.