Brazil’s defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro insisted Wednesday that he was the country’s rightful leader after fleeing to the United States in self-imposed exile.
His defiance on arrival in Florida signaled continued upheaval for Brazil, where leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a dramatic runoff election Sunday.
"I am the elected president and the criminals who stole Brazil's election are part of a criminal organization that has established a tyranny," Bolsonaro said in a statement published on his X account, denouncing "electoral fraud."
"I will lead the opposition from here," he said. In a subsequent statement, he revised his claim, saying he is the "leader," rather than "president."
Bolsonaro, 45, touched down earlier Wednesday on a private jet at Opa-Locka Executive Airport near Miami.
Rogerio Marinho, the leader of Bolsonaro's Liberal Party in the Senate, told reporters in Brasilia that he was in "solidarity" with the former candidate, describing him as a "political exile."
However, he distanced himself from Bolsonaro's statement and refused to back up Bolsonaro's claims of electoral fraud.
"The Liberal Party cannot make that claim," he said. "There is no evidence of that."
Flavio Bolsonaro "is an expression of the right in Brazil today ... he calls himself a leader and it's true: he's a leader," Marinho told reporters.
U.S. President Donald Trump's hard-right administration has strong links to Bolsonaro and his father, Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest in Brazil after attempting to overturn his own electoral loss to Lula in 2022.
Trump reiterated his view that Brazil's election was "very strange" but told reporters he "won't get involved" in Flavio Bolsonaro's claim to the presidency.
Details of how Bolsonaro, accompanied by his wife and daughters, reached the United States are still emerging.
He is under investigation in his home country over alleged corruption and money laundering. With his current parliamentary immunity about to expire, he was ordered to surrender his passports but left anyway, reaching the United States via Argentina and Ecuador.
A police source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Bolsonaro's Brazilian and diplomatic passports had been canceled, but the senator has also held Italian nationality since 2023, according to Italian documents seen by AFP.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the Bolsonaro family members were inspected and cleared "with applicable immigration laws and procedures."
The travel ban was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who led the case against Bolsonaro's father and is fiercely criticized by the Brazilian right.
Lula, who won Sunday's election with 51.8% of the vote, called Bolsonaro's departure a "shameful" act.
"A person who sneaks out of their country must have something to hide," he said in Brasilia during his 81st birthday celebration Tuesday.
But Brazilian police issued a statement Wednesday saying that he was not considered a fugitive.
There was controversy in neighboring Argentina, where opposition lawmakers demanded to know how Bolsonaro had managed to transit through the country.
While Argentinian authorities said he was carrying valid travel documents, officials have asked Cabinet chief Diego Santilli to provide details to Parliament, according to opposition lawmaker Agustin Rossi.
The most high-profile fraud case against Bolsonaro in Brazil centers on the unreleased biopic "Dark Horse," starring U.S. actor Jim Caviezel as Flavio's father, Jair.
In May, the outlet Intercept Brasil revealed audio recordings in which Flavio Bolsonaro negotiated approximately $24 million to finance the film with banker Daniel Vorcaro, who is jailed over one of Brazil's biggest fraud cases.
Before the leak, Flavio Bolsonaro had denied knowing Vorcaro or that the banker had financed the movie.
In July, the Supreme Court ordered a probe into the film's financing and whether it involved corruption, money laundering or the illegal movement of currency.
Bolsonaro acknowledged Vorcaro had funded the film but insisted it was a private business deal that was "completely legal."
