Flavio Bolsonaro leaves Brazil for US after election defeat and passport order

FILE PHOTO: Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has left for the United States following his election defeat and a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports. | Photo Credit: AGUSTIN MARCARIAN

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has left the country for the United States after losing Sunday’s presidential election and refusing to comply with a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports, two sources said.

The US Embassy in Brazil did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bolsonaro’s lawyer also did not respond.

It was not immediately clear where Bolsonaro was heading, when he would arrive or whether he would seek asylum. US President Donald Trump’s administration has previously alleged that Flavio’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was a victim of judicial persecution in Brazil.

Departure threatens to deepen US-Brazil rift

Flavio’s departure for the United States threatens to deepen a rift between the two most populous nations in the Americas.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has accused Washington of colluding with the Bolsonaros to return them to power. Reuters reported ahead of Sunday’s election that the US State Department had campaigned to restore them to office.

Passport order follows shock election defeat

Bolsonaro was favoured to win Sunday’s presidential election but suffered a shock defeat to leftist Lula. On Monday, he was given 24 hours to surrender his passports as part of a money laundering probe in which he denies wrongdoing. That deadline has now passed, and his documents have been cancelled, two other sources said.

It was unclear whether he could enter the United States with his passports cancelled.

Jair Bolsonaro’s previous US stay and coup sentence

Jair Bolsonaro also travelled to the United States after refusing to concede defeat to Lula in 2022, when former US President Joe Biden was in office. He eventually returned to Brazil but was later sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup after his supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia.

His son has yet to officially concede defeat. On Sunday, he said he would seek to annul the result over alleged voter irregularities. However, his Liberal Party said on Monday that it acknowledged Lula’s victory.

Questions over how Bolsonaro left Brazil

It remains unclear how Bolsonaro was able to leave the country while facing a 24-hour Supreme Court deadline to surrender his passports. A senior Brazilian Federal Police official said Bolsonaro had not left the country through any regular migration checkpoint.

Right-wing influencer Paulo Figueiredo, who serves as an unofficial spokesperson for the Bolsonaro family, declined to answer questions about Bolsonaro’s whereabouts.

“After months of intense work that has been unfairly thwarted, I am not in the mood to speak to the press,” he said in a message. “If I have any comments to make on any matter, I will get in touch.”

Brother had backed leaving Brazil after election loss

Eduardo Bolsonaro, Flavio’s younger brother who lives in the United States, said before the vote that an election defeat would warrant leaving the country.

“If my brother does not win, I’m in favor that he would leave the country,” he told podcaster Steven Crowder this month.

Published on October 28, 2026