Brazil's election loser: Bolsonaro's spectacular escape

A private plane, probably two stopovers, the arrival in Trump's USA - the loser of the presidential election now describes himself as the "leader" of Brazil. How is the right camp dealing with this?

Brazil's election loser Bolsonaro's spectacular escape As of: October 29, 2026 • 3:14 a.m

A private plane, stopovers, arrival in the USA - the Brazilian election loser Bolsonaro is now in Florida - and describes himself as the "leader" of Brazil. How does the right-wing camp deal with the refugee Bolsonaro?

It's 9:24 a.m. on Wednesday morning when a private plane lands at Opa-Locka's private airport north of Miami. Getting out: Flávio Bolsonaro, his wife and their two daughters. This ends the guesswork about the 45-year-old's whereabouts.

On Monday, a few hours after his election defeat, he declared that he would not leave Brazil. "I will organize the opposition. We have achieved the majority in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Let us raise our heads and continue to fight for our Brazil," said Bolsonaro.

"Whatever happens, we will not give up our Brazil."

Former presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro is heading to the USA daily topics, Das Erste, October 28th, 2026 • 9:35 p.m. Spectacular escape But on Tuesday the reports exploded: Argentine media speculated about leaving via Puerto Iguazú near the waterfalls of the same name on the Brazilian border.

In the evening it was said that Bolsonaro was already in the USA - anonymous sources rumored it, authorities denied it.

All of this was probably intended to cover up the fact that the escape was still being planned. The highest court had imposed an exit ban on Bolsonaro and ordered him to surrender his passports.

Instead, the 45-year-old senator probably used his Italian passport to travel to Argentina on Tuesday night and from there to the USA, probably with a stopover in Ecuador.

The USA agreed to accept Bolsonaro and issued him and his family visas. Trump explained this before Bolsonaro landed. "I think they're decent people. The election was very strange and I thought it was terrible. It got bad reviews."

The Brazilian election loser Flávio Bolsonaro has fled to the USA despite a travel ban. more

However, Brazil's judiciary is investigating how decent Flávio Bolsonaro actually is. It's about money laundering, corruption and tax evasion. At one point, authorities are investigating Bolsonaro's relationship with now-imprisoned banker Daniel Vorcaro. He is at the center of the biggest fraud scandal in Brazil's recent history. Flávio is said to have asked for money from him to finance a film about his father - ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, who was imprisoned for an attempted coup - and snatched 20 million from him.

He is also said to be involved in money laundering related to sports betting with a lawyer friend of his. It's the equivalent of 1.1 billion euros. Bolsonaro denies the allegations - his supporters are spreading the narratives of the politically persecuted person online by a judiciary influenced by the left-wing Lula.

The political analyst Octavio Guedes classifies this differently on the TV channel Globo: "Flávio Bolsonaro is fleeing a country in which he could run freely. Yes, he is fleeing a country in which his brother is a senator. He is fleeing from a country in which another brother is a member of the federal parliament. He is fleeing a country in which his party has the majority in the House of Representatives. So he is fleeing from a democracy. He is fleeing the confrontation with the judiciary - it's about nothing else."

Argentine authorities and journalists report that Flávio Bolsonaro flew to Ecuador with his family. more

Bolsonaro's mandate as a senator ends in February, when he loses his parliamentary immunity. As elected president, investigations against him would only have been possible with the consent of Congress, in which Bolsonaro's liberal PL party is the strongest force.

To date, Bolsonaro himself has not publicly acknowledged Lula da Silva's election victory - but his party has. On Wednesday evening, he posted a communiqué on He compared himself to Venezuela's interim president Juan Guaidó and Charles de Gaulle, the French president of the post-war years. A short time later he corrected the wording to "leader".

He wants to prevent Lula from establishing a “dictatorial regime” in Brazil. more

The image of the moderate Bolsonaro that Flávio presented himself as during the election campaign has been exposed as a facade, says Joao Paulo Charleaux, an expert in international relations. "An election that - according to Flávio Bolsonaro and no one else - was stolen. Do all the parliamentarians and governors of the right really want to give up the mandates they won because they believe the election was stolen? The answer is: no. The only one who is dissatisfied is Flávio - he lost."

It is time for Brazil's right-wing camp to comment on this. Who has already commented is US President Donald Trump. When asked about Bolsonaro's letter, he said he would not comment on it. He has given Bolsonaro permission to come into the country, but will not interfere further.

And in Brazil, Tarcísio de Freitas, re-elected governor of São Paulo and an influential right-wing politician, told the newspaper Estadao that he understood "the feelings, the indignation and the anger" of Bolsonaro, but that the right path was to respect the election result and look forward.