Far-right Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro has reportedly left Brazil for the United States after losing Sunday’s presidential election to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, despite a court order requiring him to surrender his passports.
Brazilian media outlets reported on Tuesday that the former presidential candidate was aboard a flight to the US, although his whereabouts and how he may have left Brazil remained unclear.
The news website Metrópoles, citing sources close to the Bolsonaro family, reported that he was en route to the US and expected to land in Florida on Tuesday afternoon, where allies said he planned to seek political asylum.
CNN Brasil also reported that a source close to Bolsonaro had confirmed he was flying to the US, but said it was unclear how he had left Brazil or where he was headed.
Brazilian Federal Police have contacted Argentine authorities to establish whether Bolsonaro entered Argentina, according to Metrópoles. Police sources said he had not passed through any official Brazilian border checkpoint in recent hours.
An Argentine government statement said there was no record of Bolsonaro entering the country, while a Brazilian police source told AFP that his passports had been cancelled and there was no formal record of his departure.
The reports followed Bolsonaro’s failure to surrender his passports by Tuesday morning, after Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered him to hand over the documents within 24 hours on Monday.
Bolsonaro had agreed with his legal team to comply with the order and deliver the passports on Tuesday morning, according to reports.
In a video posted on social media on Monday, Bolsonaro said he had been informed that he was prohibited from leaving Brazil and had been served with a notice requiring him to surrender his passports.
Bolsonaro is under investigation by Brazil’s Supreme Court on corruption, money laundering and currency evasion charges.
Lula secured a historic victory in Sunday’s presidential runoff, winning an unprecedented fourth term and signaling strong public support for democracy, social progress and national sovereignty.
Bolsonaro initially refused to recognize the result, saying it was impossible to acknowledge the victory and calling for the election to be annulled. He later said he would organize the opposition.
If his departure is confirmed, Bolsonaro would join a number of Brazilian conservatives living in the US, including his brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has been living there since 2025.
Eduardo suggested on Friday, two days before the election, that his brother leave Brazil if he lost. On Tuesday, however, he dismissed reports that his brother had fled the country as a “lie.”
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