Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro left Brazil for the United States after losing Sunday's presidential election to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, arriving in Florida on Tuesday. His departure came after he refused to comply with a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports. Brazilian police subsequently cancelled his passport, while a senior US State Department official said the United States would grant entry visas to Bolsonaro and his family. US President Donald Trump said he approved of the move.
Departure after the election
Bolsonaro's departure followed his defeat in Sunday's presidential vote, in which Lula was elected president. The senator travelled to the United States and arrived in Florida on Tuesday, according to the account provided. The move put him outside Brazil as he faces investigations involving corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. The available information does not specify when those investigations began or provide details about the allegations.
The departure also came amid a dispute over Bolsonaro's travel documents. Brazil's Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender his passports, but he refused to comply. Brazilian police cancelled his passport after he left. The reported sequence places the court order, his refusal and the cancellation at the centre of questions surrounding his trip, although no further details about the order or the police action were provided.
US visa decision and Trump's response
A senior US State Department official said the United States would grant entry visas to Bolsonaro and his family. The statement indicated that the visa decision covered his relatives as well as the senator, but the available account does not give details about the visas, their duration or any conditions attached to them. It also does not specify when the visas were issued or whether each family member had already travelled.
Trump said he approved of Bolsonaro's move to the United States. The reported support from the US president came alongside the State Department official's statement about visas. The account does not provide further comments from Trump, explain the administration's reasons for the decision or describe any response from Brazilian officials to the US position.
Investigations in Brazil
Bolsonaro faces investigations into corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. These are investigations, not findings of guilt, and no charges, court rulings or case outcomes are described in the available information. The allegations form the legal backdrop to his departure, but the account does not establish that they were the reason he travelled to Florida or explain whether investigators had sought to restrict his travel beyond the Supreme Court's passport order.
The events leave several separate developments in focus: Bolsonaro's election loss to Lula, his refusal to surrender his passports, the subsequent cancellation of his passport by Brazilian police and the US decision to grant visas to him and his family. The information available does not say what steps Brazilian authorities may take next, whether Bolsonaro plans to return to Brazil or how the investigations will proceed. For now, he has arrived in Florida as the legal inquiries in Brazil continue and the US government has indicated that his family will also be allowed entry.
