Flavio Bolsonaro posts video, says he fled Brazil due to ‘persecution’

Former conservative presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro said Friday that he fled Brazil to the United States because he was a victim of "persecution" in his country.

Bolsonaro, who lost Sunday's election runoff to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, secretly left Brazil on Tuesday and arrived in Florida aboard a private jet on Wednesday after traveling through Argentina and Ecuador.

"The persecution began even sooner than I imagined," the senator said during an Instagram livestream in which he discussed his decision to flee after his Brazilian passports were canceled as part of a money laundering investigation.

In the video, he recounted how police informed him Monday that his passports were being revoked as he left a visit to his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest.

"With tears in his eyes, he told me: 'You know where they're going with this, don't you?'" he said of his father.

"I told him: 'Dad, I know... Now I know what I have to do,'" he recounted.

Although he gave no details of how he left the country, he said he and his wife made the decision "without anyone knowing" and urged people not to "point the finger at anyone."

US President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei are under pressure to explain the involvement of the United States and Argentina in the senator's escape.

"I didn't leave Brazil, I left for Brazil," Flavio Bolsonaro said, alleging that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had made false accusations against him.

He also suggested there had been irregularities in the runoff, comparing them to "handball goals" that were not disallowed by VAR, without detailing what those irregularities might have been.

Read moreFlavio Bolsonaro’s great escape: Is this the beginning of the end for ‘Bolsonarism’?

He also predicted that the economy would "go bust" under Lula and said he was willing to run for president again: "I'm not talking about 2030, I'm talking about before then."

Brazil summons Argentina’s representative

Brazil's government summoned Argentina’s representative in the country after Bolsonaro fled to the US via Argentina, marking the latest episode in tense relations between South America’s two powerhouses.

Brazil’s foreign ministry asked for explanations on Thursday afternoon after the defeated presidential candidate passed through Argentina on his way to Miami, according to a diplomatic source who requested anonymity as they were not allowed to discuss the matter publicly.

Milei backed Bolsonaro in the presidential election won by Lula on Sunday and is yet to acknowledge the leftist’s win, differentiating himself from other Trump allies in the region who quickly congratulated the incumbent.

Bolsonaro, who is under investigation in Brazil over allegations of corruption and money laundering, refused to concede and has called the elections fraudulent, without providing evidence. His father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, also refused to acknowledge his 2022 loss to Lula and is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup. 

Under Milei and Lula, Argentina and Brazil have had a rocky relationship, which took a decisive turn for the worse in July when Brazil recalled its ambassador to Argentina after Milei insulted Brazilian officials while in the country.

Milei was in Sao Paulo participating in the event confirming Bolsonaro’s presidential bid when he called Lula a “thief” and “delinquent,” among other things.

Argentina also recalled its ambassador to Brazil. The interests in both countries are represented by a lower diplomatic rank, known as chargés d’affaires.

Brazil’s top diplomat Joao Marcelo, the director of the ministry’s South America department, summoned Argentina’s chargé d’affaires María Emilia Cortés for a brief meeting, the source said.

Milei has not commented on Bolsonaro's journey, but presidential spokesperson Juan Pablo Carreira said on social media that the administration rescued Bolsonaro “from the claws of communism, which seeks to imprison all opposition figures.”