An overlooked detail of dual citizenship proved decisive in allowing Brazilian senator Flavio Bolsonaro to slip out of the country despite a court order seizing his passports.
After Brazil’s Supreme Court moved to confiscate his Brazilian and diplomatic passports, Bolsonaro exploited his Italian citizenship to board a Gulfstream G400 with his wife and two daughters Tuesday night.
The family traced a circuitous route through Latin America, touching down first in Argentina, then flying by private jet to the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil, before arriving Wednesday morning at Miami-Opa Locka airport in Florida.
Just days earlier, Bolsonaro had declared on Instagram that he had no intention of leaving, writing that he would “hand over my passports and defend myself against this travesty, which is a clear attempt to intimidate me.”
His actual departure came shortly after he lost Sunday’s presidential election to incumbent leftist President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, a result he refused to accept.
In a combative open letter posted to X, Bolsonaro initially proclaimed himself “elected president,” then deleted the post and replaced it with a revised version naming himself the rightful “leader” of Brazil.
The revised letter left little doubt about his posture toward the new government, with Bolsonaro writing, “I want to say, not only to my 60 million voters but to the Brazilian people, that I am the leader and that the criminals who stole Brazil’s election are part of a criminal organization that has established a tyranny.”
Independent international observers, along with the chief of Brazil’s electoral authority, firmly rejected any suggestion of irregularities, stating the vote proceeded normally and in full accordance with the country’s constitution.
Bolsonaro’s own party has also formally acknowledged the election outcome, leaving him isolated in his refusal to concede defeat to Lula.
Beyond the election dispute, Bolsonaro carries significant legal exposure, facing criminal investigations into alleged financial crimes before the Supreme Court, though he has characterized those proceedings as politically motivated attacks by left-leaning justices.
His Senate term expires in February, at which point he will forfeit his legislative immunity from prosecution, a timeline that adds urgency to his situation abroad.
The US State Department confirmed it would grant Bolsonaro and his family visas, while President Donald Trump, questioned by reporters at Joint Base Andrews, declined to weigh in on Bolsonaro’s self-proclaimed leadership status, repeating only that he considered Sunday’s vote “a very strange election.”
Trump had already signaled skepticism about the electoral process before the results, suggesting that an extension to voting hours was “a very bad look,” and had previously alleged that Bolsonaro’s imprisoned father, Jair, was a victim of judicial persecution.
Jair Bolsonaro, who attempted a similar flight to the United States following his own 2022 election defeat, now sits in a Brazilian jail on charges of leading a conspiracy to illegally retain power.
Flavio’s Miami arrival deepens an already strained relationship between Washington and Brasilia, with President Lula having accused the Trump administration during the campaign of actively colluding with the Bolsonaro family to engineer a return to political power in Brazil.
