Brazil’s Bolsonaro, family to get US visas after election loss: State Department

The State Department official did not say if Bolsonaro had already left Brazil or if he and his family were en route to the US. (AP)

A senior State Department official said Tuesday that Flávio Bolsonaro and his family will be granted US visas after his weekend loss to incumbent Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a hotly contested race that bucked a trend of conservative electoral results in Latin America.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to visa privacy laws, said “the State Department will issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the United States.”

Bolsonaro, who had President Donald Trump’s tacit support, had been under investigation for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in Brazil and had been ordered to surrender his passport.

The State Department official did not say if Bolsonaro had already left Brazil or if he and his family were en route to the US.

A spokesperson for Bolsonaro did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday; his campaign manager Rogério Marinho also refused to comment.