Flávio Bolsonaro Flees Brazil After Loss to Lula — SkimNews
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- Flávio Bolsonaro left Brazil with his wife and two daughters after Sunday’s loss to Lula; Argentina’s National Directorate of Migration said the family entered via the Tancredo Neves bridge and boarded a Baires Fly SA flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador, at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
- U.S. State Department said Flavio and his family would be granted visas to enter the United States; allies said the Trump administration had been notified and that he would land in Florida on Tuesday afternoon.
- Flávio Bolsonaro missed an 11 a.m. Tuesday deadline to surrender his passport after a supreme court justice canceled it minutes after the election result, and no regular Brazilian immigration crossing was recorded.
- Workers’ Party lawmakers asked Brazil’s supreme court to order Flavio’s arrest and add him to Interpol’s Red Notices list; federal police are investigating him for alleged involvement in a £680m ($905m) betting-company money-laundering scheme.
- Lula called Flavio’s departure “shameful,” saying a citizen who flees after losing “owes something”; Flavio, who had yet to concede defeat, said in a Monday video: “I never thought about leaving the country.”
- Flávio Bolsonaro won 48.21% of Brazil’s vote in an election many analysts saw as an anti-Lula result, while campaign chief Rogério Marinho said his 60 million votes gave him a mandate to lead the opposition.
- Magna Inácio said Brazilian voters’ resistance to handing victory to the far right left its leadership “up for grabs,” while Camila Rocha said she sees power moving away from the sons, citing pre-election polls that showed Jair Bolsonaro supporters preferred Michelle Bolsonaro and Tarcísio de Freitas over Flavio.
Why it matters: Flávio Bolsonaro’s 48.21% result and the 60 million votes his campaign chief cites leave Brazil’s opposition with what many analysts view as anti-Lula backing, even though its defeated standard-bearer is now abroad. Workers’ Party lawmakers’ call for his arrest and an Interpol notice adds a legal dimension to the contest over who inherits the Bolsonaro movement.
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