After fleeing to the USA: Bolsonaro styles himself as a victim

dpa | After his illegal departure to the USA, the defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro denounced the left's “hideous election fraud” and wants to lead the opposition in his homeland from abroad. Three days after his election defeat, the right-wing politician, who fled abroad despite being banned from leaving the country due to money laundering investigations, landed in the US state of Florida - and addressed combative words to his supporters. He also railed against the Brazilian judiciary, which he sees as a stooge of the left-wing president and election winner Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

"I want to make it clear: I did not flee Brazil. I left the country in the interests of Brazil and evaded a state of emergency in order to be the leader that my people deserve," Bolsonaro wrote after arriving in Miami in an open letter to his approximately 220 million compatriots in Brazil, which he posted on the X platform.

In an initial version of the announcement, the 45-year-old senator even declared himself the “true” and “elected president” of the largest and most economically powerful country in Latin America. But shortly afterwards he withdrew the first version in order to weaken his wording - and in the new version he only called himself “leader” of Brazil. His original choice of words could have gotten him into trouble with the Brazilian justice system. They had already sentenced his father, President Jair Bolsonaro, who ruled from 2019 to 2023, to a long prison term for an attempted coup.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote that he was not the first person to have to fight for his country far from his homeland. As an example, he cited Charles de Gaulle, who led the “Free France” movement from London during the Second World War against Nazi Germany.

"There is no arrest warrant against me because I have not committed any crime. What is happening is a politically motivated witch hunt," explained the ex-candidate. “Silenced, imprisoned or censored like my father, I would not have been able to take on this leadership role,” he said, referring to the 27-year prison sentence for Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently under house arrest.

According to Bolsonaro, Lula's victory - this is the name the president is known to all Brazilians and internationally - was illegitimate and only came about with the help of a corrupt justice system. Now he wants to ensure from abroad that Lula does not establish a “dictatorial regime” in Brazil.

Before leaving for the USA, Bolsonaro had not complied with an order from the Supreme Court in Brazil to hand in his passports within 24 hours - although he had initially publicly promised to do so. He rejects the allegations and speaks of political persecution. His right-wing party, however, recognized Lula's election victory - albeit only with reservations. She calls for clarification of open questions about the electoral process.

Bolsonaro thanked the right-wing populist Argentine head of state Javier Milei and US President Donald Trump for their support. Milei is said to have enabled his Brazilian ally to travel to the USA via Argentina. According to Argentine authorities, Bolsonaro traveled by land to the neighboring country despite the ban on leaving the country and flew from there to Ecuador. From Ecuador we obviously went on to Miami.

Immediately after the election, Bolsonaro received political support from Trump, who also called the election result “rigged” and still does not accept his own defeat in the 2020 US presidential election. Bolsonaro's brother Eduardo, who was also previously politically active in Brazil, has been living in the USA for a long time. There is an arrest warrant against him from the Brazilian authorities.

According to the judiciary, Flávio Bolsonaro is being targeted by the criminal justice authorities because he is said to be guilty of money laundering in connection with companies and online sports betting. His mandate as a senator, which protects him from arrest because of immunity rules, expires on January 31, 2027.