Flávio Bolsonaro reportedly leaves Brazil for US after election defeat

Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro reportedly left Brazil for the United States on Tuesday, two days after losing the presidential election to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The reported departure followed his failure to meet a court-ordered deadline to surrender his passports to federal police.

Metrópoles, citing people close to the senator’s family, reported that his aircraft was airborne and that Florida was the intended destination. Its account did not establish where the flight had departed from, leaving a central detail of the reported journey unresolved.

The far-right politician’s whereabouts became a focus of attention after he missed the Tuesday deadline. Metrópoles reported that Bolsonaro had sent a message that morning to his campaign coordinator, Rogério Marinho, but had not answered whether he had left Brazil.

Supreme court justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports and barred him from leaving the country, according to Agência Brasil. The news agency reported that the order was under judicial secrecy and that the senator himself disclosed the restrictions on social media on Monday.

The order concerns an investigation involving Bolsonaro and lawyer Willer Tomaz over suspected money laundering, Agência Brasil reported. The investigation is separate from the presidential election, although the timing of the restrictions placed the legal case alongside the immediate political fallout from Bolsonaro’s defeat.

Bolsonaro publicly questioned the travel restrictions, linking his objections to their timing after the election result, according to Agência Brasil. He also said the decision drew on comments by his brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, who had advocated that he leave Brazil if he lost the presidential contest.

Federal police subsequently cancelled both the senator’s ordinary and diplomatic passports after he failed to hand them over by 11 a.m. Tuesday, CNN Brasil reported. The network said police also contacted Argentine authorities as investigators sought to establish whether he had travelled through the neighbouring country.

That possible route remained disputed. CNN Brasil reported that Argentina’s government said its immigration authorities had no record of Bolsonaro entering the country, while accounts suggesting he had crossed the border were not confirmed in the network’s report.

The uncertainty over his movements has also unsettled political allies following Sunday’s defeat. According to CNN Brasil, politicians close to the senator sought a public statement or video explaining his whereabouts, and members of his Liberal Party viewed the speculation surrounding a possible departure as damaging.

Further confirmation of Bolsonaro’s location and travel arrangements remained the immediate outstanding issue in the reports. Accounts from family associates pointed to a US-bound journey, but the departure point and possible transit through Argentina were still unresolved, even as Brazilian authorities acted against his travel documents.