Defeated Brazil presidential candidate, ordered to surrender passport, flees to Florida

Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro was headed to Florida on Tuesday after losing the presidential election and failing to surrender his passports under a Supreme Court order, according to CNN, which cited a U.S. official and a Brazilian source close to the politician.

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His reported departure came a day after Bolsonaro said police had personally informed him that he was prohibited from leaving Brazil. Authorities canceled his passports after he missed the deadline to turn them over in connection with a criminal investigation, according to Brazilian news reports and Reuters.

The Trump administration later said Tuesday it would issue allow Bolsonaro to enter the country.

“The State Department will issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family members and allow them to enter the United States,” a senior administration official said, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.

The announcement did not establish whether Bolsonaro had arrived in the country or whether he would receive political asylum.

The Brazilian source told CNN that Bolsonaro feared being arrested. The senator, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, is under investigation for alleged corruption, money laundering and currency evasion. He denies wrongdoing.

Reuters separately reported that Bolsonaro had left Brazil for the United States, citing two sources. His departure route, expected arrival time and plans upon reaching the country remained unclear.

Reports that he would seek political asylum could not be confirmed. The Brazilian news website Metrópoles, citing Bolsonaro allies, said he planned to request asylum and that President Donald Trump’s administration had been informed. Reuters said it was not immediately clear whether he would seek that protection.

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The developments followed Bolsonaro’s defeat Sunday by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who won approximately 52% of the vote to his challenger’s 48%. Lula’s victory reversed his first-round loss earlier this month and denied the Bolsonaro family a return to the presidency.

On Monday, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes gave the senator 24 hours to surrender his passports and barred him from leaving the country. When the deadline passed, Brazil’s Federal Police canceled the documents, including his diplomatic passport, according to Agência Brasil.

Bolsonaro had publicly denied planning to leave.

“I never thought about leaving the country,” he said in a video posted Monday, according to the accounts supplied by Brazilian and international news organizations.

His brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, a former congressman living in Texas, had suggested before the runoff that the presidential candiadate should leave Brazil if he lost. On Tuesday, Eduardo Bolsonaro called reports that his brother had fled a “lie,” CNN reported.

Bolsonaro’s departure could further strain relations between Brazil and the United States. Reuters reported that Lula da Silva has accused Washington of working with the Bolsonaro family to return it to power. The Trump administration has previously portrayed Jair Bolsonaro as a victim of judicial persecution.

Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for an attempted coup following his earlier election defeat by Lula. Moraes, who issued the passport order against Flávio, also oversaw the proceedings against his father.

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This article was complemented with el Nuevo Herald’s wire services.

This story was originally published October 27, 2026 at 3:29 PM.