Flávio Bolsonaro lands in Miami after defeat in Brazil's presidential election

Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro has flown to Miami after losing the country's presidential election on Sunday.

His arrival in Florida ends days of confusion over his whereabouts, after he was reported to have travelled to Argentina, and then prematurely reported to have already entered the US on Tuesday.

The US has said it would grant visas to Bolsonaro and his family, who travelled with him. Brazil cancelled his passport, after he failed to surrender it to authorities, due to an ongoing criminal investigation. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Newly reelected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has criticised the departure, saying "those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear".

Speculation about Bolsonaro's whereabouts was first triggered by a report on an Argentine news site, which claimed that he had crossed the land border between Brazil and Argentina and then boarded a private plane en route to the US.

Brazilian police took the rumours seriously. Early on Tuesday, they checked border crossings but found no evidence that Bolsonaro had left the country, and Argentine officials said they had no reports of him crossing.

For a little while, it seemed like Bolsonaro may just be keeping an uncharacteristically low profile after being unexpectedly beaten by his left-wing rival in the presidential run-off vote on Sunday.

When he failed to surrender his passports in time to meet a 24-hour deadline, Brazilian authorities cancelled the documents and ordered police to make checks at border posts.

With Bolsonaro's lawyers saying they did not know where he was, speculation quickly grew again that he might have left the country.

Flávio Bolsonaro is not the first member of his family to travel to the United States.

Jair Bolsonaro, his father, also left Brazil for Florida in December 2022 before his successor, President Lula, was inaugurated.

He was still in the US when his supporters stormed Brazil's government buildings and Supreme Court on 8 January. He later used his absence as part of his defence in his coup trial, which led to a conviction and 27-year sentence.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, meanwhile, has been living in Texas after taking leave from Brazil's Congress. While in the US, he lobbied officials there in an attempt to influence the coup trial of his father, which led to the US imposing punitive tariffs on Brazil and sanctions on key officials.

He was convicted in absentia over this by Brazil's highest court earlier this year.

It is not yet clear what Flávio Bolsonaro's ultimate destination will be nor how long he plans to stay in the US.

He is the subject of two investigations currently pending before Brazil's Supreme Federal Court.

One regarding possible irregularities in the transfer of nearly $70m (£53m) from private bank Banco Master to the film Dark Horse – a biopic about his father.

The second investigation relates to alleged money laundering, both of which Bolsonaro denies.

He is set to lose his parliamentary immunity on 31 January, when his eight-year Senate term ends.