Flávio Bolsonaro Flees Brazil After Losing to Lula — SkimNews
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- Flávio Bolsonaro crossed into Argentina through the Tancredo Neves International Bridge in Misiones and boarded a Baires Fly SA private flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador, at 11.30pm Tuesday, according to Argentina's National Directorate of Migration, which said the family held valid travel documents and faced no legal impediment; there is no record of him passing a regular Brazilian immigration checkpoint.
- Metrópoles, citing people close to his family, reported the senator was already in flight to the United States, with allies saying he would land in Florida on Tuesday afternoon, seek political asylum and that the Donald Trump administration had been informed; CNN Brasil also reported he flew out with his wife and two daughters.
- State Department said Bolsonaro and his family would be granted visas to allow them entry into the United States, while allies told Folha de S Paulo that the escape plan was "organised and enabled by a lawyer close to the Bolsonaro clan".
- Brazil's Supreme Court cancelled his passport minutes after the result, and Flávio missed the 11am Tuesday deadline to surrender it to federal police; Workers' Party lawmakers asked the court to order his arrest and add him to Interpol's Red Notice list over a case involving an alleged £680m ($905m) money-laundering scheme tied to betting companies.
- Flávio Bolsonaro said in a Monday video, "I never thought about leaving the country," has yet to concede defeat to Lula, and holds Italian citizenship since 2023 with a reported Italian passport; O Globo reported he appeared "possessed" and made clear at a Monday meeting with friends and lawyers that he feared arrest.
- Eduardo Bolsonaro, in self-imposed exile in the US with an outstanding arrest warrant and a four-year sentence for pushing Donald Trump to sanction the justices hearing his father's trial, said last Friday that his brother should leave Brazil if he lost.
- Flávio Bolsonaro took 48.21% of the vote; campaign chief Rogério Marinho said the roughly 60 million votes should let him lead the opposition from abroad, citing Venezuela's María Corina Machado, while political scientist Camila Rocha said three Bolsonaros being out of the picture triggers a "shift in power" toward Michelle Bolsonaro and São Paulo governor Tarcísio de Freitas.
Why it matters: Flávio Bolsonaro's exit leaves the 48.21% he won — roughly 60 million votes — without a candidate at home, while Lula's Workers' Party seeks his arrest and an Interpol Red Notice. His own camp cites Venezuela's María Corina Machado as precedent for leading opposition from abroad, and polls put Michelle Bolsonaro and Tarcísio de Freitas ahead of him among Jair Bolsonaro's voters.
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