Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro arrived in Miami with his family on Wednesday, October 28, after leaving Brazil despite a Supreme Court order that barred him from leaving and required him to surrender his passports, and then claimed to be Brazil’s president-elect after losing the election.
The family crossed into Argentina late Tuesday and flew to Ecuador. They then continued to Florida, where they landed at Opa-Locka Airport. The court had ordered Bolsonaro to hand over his regular and diplomatic passports within 24 hours while he faced an investigation in Brazil.
He denies wrongdoing. The order came after incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated him in the October 25 runoff by more than four million votes. Bolsonaro’s party accepted the result.
In a statement posted after arriving, Bolsonaro alleged electoral fraud and political persecution. He provided no evidence for his claims. He initially described himself as the elected president and said he would lead the opposition from the United States.
In a later version of the post, he called himself Brazil’s leader instead. A senior U.S. official said the United States would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family, allowing them to enter the country.