Bolsonaro claims he is Brazil's true leader after fleeing to US

MIAMI: Brazil's defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro insisted on Wednesday (Oct 28) he is his country's rightful leader after arriving in the United States to start a self-imposed exile.

Bolsonaro's defiance on fleeing to Florida signaled continued upheaval for Brazil, where leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a dramatic runoff election on Sunday.

"I am the elected president, and the criminals who stole Brazil's election are part of a criminal organisation that has established a tyranny," Bolsonaro said in the statement published on his X account, slamming "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 on Wednesday in a private jet at Opa-Locka Executive Airport near Miami.

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 stand 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, made it to US soil 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 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 US 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 powerful Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who led the case against Flavio Bolsonaro's father and is a controversial figure hated by the Brazilian right.

Flavio Bolsonaro had vowed to seek the justice's impeachment if he were elected - which up until Lula's comeback in the runoff had looked increasingly likely.

"SHAMEFUL" ACT

Lula, who won the election with 51.8 per cent of Sunday's vote, called Flavio 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 on Tuesday.

But Brazil police issued a statement on Wednesday saying that he was not considered a fugitive.

There was controversy in neighbouring 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 requested chief of cabinet Diego Santilli to provide details to parliament, according to opposition lawmaker Agustin Rossi.

FRAUD CASES

The most high-profile fraud case against Flavio Bolsonaro in Brazil centres on the unreleased biopic "Dark Horse" starring US actor Jim Caviezel as Flavio's father Jair.

In May, the outlet Intercept Brasil revealed audio recordings in which Flavio Bolsonaro negotiated approximately US$24 million to finance the film with banker Daniel Vorcaro, who is jailed over one of Brazil's biggest-ever fraud cases.

Before the leak, Flavio Bolsonaro had denied knowing Vorcaro, or that he had financed the movie.

In July, the Supreme Court ordered a probe into the financing of the film, and whether it involved corruption, money laundering or the illegal movement of currency.

Flavio Bolsonaro acknowledged Vorcaro had funded the film, but insisted it was a private business deal that was "completely legal".

In another probe, police are investigating whether Flavio Bolsonaro laundered money and moved funds out of the country in collaboration with his close friend, the lawyer Willer Tomaz.

Flavio's father Jair Bolsonaro also never conceded defeat after losing to Lula and left the country on the eve of his rival's inauguration, before returning to Brazil three months later.