Defeated Brazilian candidate Flávio Bolsonaro lands in Miami after fleeing Brazil despite a court order to surrender his passports
Flávio Bolsonaro, son of jailed ex-president Jair, abandoned his demand for annulment of the result by Monday, pledging instead to lead the opposition.Flávio Bolsonaro routed his escape flight through Guayaquil, Ecuador, to avoid Brazilian airspace after the Supreme Court cancelled his passports for ignoring a deadline to surrender them.
Trump approved Flávio Bolsonaro's entry into the US, calling the 45-year-old Brazilian senator's family "fine people" and saying the election result was "very strange" and "terrible." The son of imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro, Flávio fled Brazil via Argentina and Ecuador after ignoring a Supreme Court order requiring him to surrender his passports within 24 hours amid a money laundering investigation he denies.
His passports were cancelled once he missed the deadline, but he had already crossed into Argentina across the Tancredo Neves International Bridge before boarding a private Gulfstream jet.
He touched down at Miami's Opa-locka executive airport under police escort, shielded by black umbrellas, and departed without comment in a dark grey Ford Expedition.
Lula condemned his departure as "shameful", arguing Bolsonaro could have remained in Brazil to contest the charges — he is due to lose his Senate immunity from prosecution in February.
