Flight tracking suggested the route from Argentina through Ecuador to Florida
Flávio Bolsonaro arrived in Miami on Wednesday morning after losing Sunday’s presidential runoff to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, ending days of confusion about his whereabouts. The Brazilian senator was photographed disembarking from a private jet at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport just before 09:30 local time (13:30 GMT). Photographers swarmed around him as he left the airport, while his team tried to cover him with umbrellas.
His route out of Brazil took shape in stages and in conflicting reports. Speculation began after a report on an Argentine news site claimed that Flávio Bolsonaro had crossed the land border between Brazil and Argentina and then boarded a private plane en route to the US. Brazilian police checked border crossings early on Tuesday but found no evidence that he had left the country, and Argentine officials said they had no reports of him crossing. For a time it appeared that the defeated candidate might simply be keeping a low profile after his defeat in the run-off vote.
A passport deadline set the sequence in motion. When Flávio Bolsonaro missed the deadline to surrender his passports, Brazilian authorities cancelled the documents and ordered police to make checks at border posts. The cancellation came because of an ongoing criminal investigation, and Flávio Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing. With his lawyers saying they did not know where he was, speculation quickly grew again that he might have left the country.
Argentine migration authorities later posted a tweet saying that Flávio Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters had only just crossed into Argentina over land on Tuesday night local time. Flight tracking data verified by the BBC suggested the Bolsonaros departed Puerto Iguazú at 12:18 local time (03:18 GMT) on Wednesday for Guayaquil, Ecuador. After a brief stop, the same private jet continued to Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport.
Before the arrival was confirmed, several sources told the BBC and other broadcasters that Flávio Bolsonaro was on his way to the US. BBC Brasil and BBC Mundo were informed by three people close to the Bolsonaros that the senator had arrived in the United States. A cousin close to Flávio Bolsonaro and his younger brother Eduardo told BBC Brasil that the defeated candidate had arrived in Miami, and another close aide to Eduardo Bolsonaro told BBC Mundo that Flávio was with his younger brother in Miami. Neither Flávio nor Eduardo Bolsonaro could be reached directly for comment at the time.
US President Donald Trump, questioned by reporters about the matter, said: “I heard he was in Argentina.” The US State Department confirmed that it would issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family.
Newly reelected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticised the departure, saying “those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear.”
It is not yet clear what Flávio Bolsonaro’s ultimate destination will be, or how long he plans to stay in the US.
Flávio Bolsonaro is the subject of two investigations currently pending before Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court. One concerns possible irregularities in the transfer of nearly $70m (£53m) from private bank Banco Master to the film Dark Horse, a biopic about his father. The second relates to alleged money laundering. Flávio Bolsonaro denies both.
He is set to lose his parliamentary immunity on 31 January, when his eight-year Senate term ends.
Flávio Bolsonaro is not the first member of his family to travel to the United States. His father, Jair Bolsonaro, also left Brazil for Florida in December 2022, before his successor, President Lula, was inaugurated. Jair Bolsonaro was still in the US on 8 January when his supporters stormed Brazil’s government buildings and the Supreme Court, and he later used his absence as part of his defence in his coup trial, which led to a conviction and a 27-year sentence. Eduardo Bolsonaro has been living in Texas after taking leave from Brazil’s Congress; while in the US, he lobbied officials there in an attempt to influence the coup trial of his father, which led to the US imposing punitive tariffs on Brazil and sanctions on key officials. Eduardo Bolsonaro was convicted in absentia over this by Brazil’s highest court earlier this year.
Wednesday’s arrival settles where Flávio Bolsonaro went. It leaves open how long he stays, where he goes next, and how the two pending investigations before Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court develop before his parliamentary immunity lapses on 31 January.