Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has declared himself the rightful leader of his country after arriving in the US, having fled Brazil following his election defeat to incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro, an ally of US President Donald Trump, landed in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday morning aboard a private jet after traveling through Argentina and Ecuador. He defied a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports amid investigations into alleged financial crimes.
The senator is suspected of involvement in a money-laundering scheme linked to fraudulent deductions from pension payments. He also faces a separate investigation involving alleged financial misconduct. Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing, describing the cases as politically motivated.
The right-wing senator narrowly lost to Lula, a veteran left-wing politician, in Sunday’s runoff election, despite receiving more votes than his rival in the first round on October 4. His father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup to overturn his 2022 election defeat to Lula. The elder Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing, arguing that the case was politically motivated.
In a lengthy letter posted on X, Flavio Bolsonaro described himself as “the leader of Brazil” and claimed that the election was rigged. An earlier version of the letter had described him as the country’s elected president.
“The illegitimate and illegal actions of Lula’s former lawyer allowed a mathematical impossibility to become reality, with Lula gaining more than 10 million votes between the first and second rounds,” he wrote.
Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro and his family have landed in Miami after fleeing his country. This comes a day after they were granted United States visas by the Trump administration. https://t.co/oB91ejWab5
Bolsonaro was referring to Supreme Federal Court Justice Cristiano Zanin, who previously represented Lula. Zanin ordered voting extended from 5pm to 7pm on Sunday following complaints from Lula’s campaign about public transport disruptions. The last-minute ruling caused confusion because some polling stations had already closed, prompting Zanin to clarify that the extension applied only where voting was still underway.
Bolsonaro provided no evidence of electoral fraud. Lula won the runoff by approximately 4.4 million votes, while just 34,393 ballots were cast after the original 5pm deadline, according to Brazil’s electoral authorities. The figure includes votes cast by people already waiting in line when polls were due to close.
Bolsonaro rejected the investigations against him and vowed to “lead the opposition” from abroad. “It was not my intention to leave my homeland, but I know exactly where this is heading. This is the classic playbook of any coup d’état,” he wrote.
Lula earlier condemned Bolsonaro’s departure as “a shameful act,” arguing that “those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear.”
Trump has also suggested that Brazil’s election may have been rigged. He previously condemned the prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro as a “witch hunt” and called for the case against the former president to be dropped.
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