Flávio Bolsonaro lands in Miami and declares himself Brazil's 'rightful' leader

Three days after losing the run-off, Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro has arrived in the United States. According to Al Jazeera, he landed with his wife and daughters at Opa-locka airport near Miami at about 9:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday. The family had left Brazil late on Tuesday on foot across a bridge into Argentina and flown by private jet via Guayaquil in Ecuador to Florida. Brazil's Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender his passports in connection with an investigation into alleged money laundering, which Bolsonaro denies. The US State Department had promised the family visas.

Shortly after landing, Bolsonaro published an open letter on X. According to dpa, he first called himself the 'true elected president' and spoke of 'abhorrent electoral fraud'. Reuters reported that he deleted the text and, in a revised version, described himself as Brazil's rightful 'leader'. He wrote that he had left Brazil but had not abandoned the Brazilian people, and thanked Argentine President Javier Milei and US President Donald Trump. He offered no evidence of fraud. According to electoral authorities, Lula won the 25 October run-off by 51.8 to 48.2 percent, a margin of about 4.5 million votes.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said it was 'shameful' that Bolsonaro had not stayed in the country to prove his innocence, Reuters reported. Electoral court chief Kassio Nunes Marques said the election had met all legal and constitutional requirements. Bolsonaro's own party has also recognised Lula's victory. Trump declined to comment on the declaration and again called it 'a very strange election'. Flávio's father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup.