Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro landed in Miami on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, after fleeing Brazil, ending days of speculation about his whereabouts. Bolsonaro and members of his family were photographed stepping off a plane at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, and were shielded from cameras with umbrellas as they left for a waiting car.
Bolsonaro left Brazil after a Brazilian judge barred him from leaving the country and ordered him to surrender his passport, as part of a criminal investigation into his alleged involvement in a money-laundering scheme. His whereabouts were unclear for much of 27 October, until Argentina’s migration department said he had crossed into Argentina from Brazil late that evening with his wife and two daughters via the Tancredo Neves International Bridge, before boarding a private flight to Ecuador.
The US State Department said on 27 October that it would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family and allow them to enter the United States, and President Donald Trump later told reporters he approved of the decision, saying: “I think they’re fine people.”
Bolsonaro lost the presidential runoff election on 25 October to incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who won with 51.79% of the vote. Bolsonaro refused to concede and initially pledged to seek an annulment of the result, citing “foul play”. Lula, speaking on 27 October, called Bolsonaro’s decision to flee “shameful”.
The arrival echoes his father Jair Bolsonaro’s trip to Florida in 2022 after losing to Lula; the elder Bolsonaro later returned to Brazil and was convicted over an attempted coup, and is now serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest.
Source: USA TODAY — https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/10/28/flavio-bolsonaro-in-us-after-fleeing-brazil/92476081007/
