Bolsonaro flees Brazil and lands at Trump’s. The mystery of the passport and Milei’s help

Flávio Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters landed in Miami at 9.25 am local time, which is 2.25 pm Italian time. Television footage showed them stepping off a plane at Opa-locka Airport. The family were subsequently photographed leaving the airport, sheltering under umbrellas.

A Brazilian source close to Bolsonaro reported that the politician feared he would be arrested in Brazil. The White House gave the go-ahead for him to enter the United States following his electoral defeat, a Trump adviser told CNN. According to this source, on Monday officials in the Trump administration were aware that Bolsonaro had around 24 hours to hand over his passport. They therefore informed the defeated Brazilian presidential candidate that he would be allowed to enter the United States. Simón Levy, a Mexican lawyer with close ties to the Trump camp, specified that the operation was to be called ‘Operation Dawn’ and would be coordinated by Marco Rubio himself, but made possible thanks to the decisive support of Javier Milei.

The United States has granted visas to Bolsonaro and his family, as previously reported by two US officials to CNN. Speaking to journalists late last night, Trump had indicated that he would welcome Bolsonaro’s visit to the United States. “Well, I’d be in favour of it. I think they’re good people. The elections were very strange, and I found them terrible.”

Speculation about Flávio Bolsonaro’s movements had intensified after the Argentine news outlet Infobae reported that he had left Brazil via Argentina. Initially, the Argentine government had stated that it had “no record of Flávio Bolsonaro’s entry” into the country. However, in the early hours of Wednesday (Argentine time), the Buenos Aires immigration department announced via a post on X that Bolsonaro and his family had entered the country on Tuesday evening at 22:50, 2:50 Italian time, via the Tancredo Neves International Bridge, which forms the border between Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil and Puerto Iguazú in Argentina, and had departed at 11:30 p.m. on a private flight to Guayaquil, in Ecuador, before continuing on to Florida. It was also clarified that the group entered Argentina with ‘valid documentation’ and without any ‘legal impediment’. However, the Brazilian passport had already been cancelled. It remains unclear whether he used an Italian passport—a possibility that has raised questions about how citizenship was granted to the Bolsonaro family—whether his identity card was sufficient, as permitted under Mercosur agreements; or whether the Milei government deliberately turned a blind eye.

The Bolsonaro family travelled on the very same Gulfstream G400, operated by Baires Fly S.A., which had been specified and listed Guayaquil as its destination on the flight plan submitted to the authorities after completing immigration procedures. Therefore, not only had they not actually left yet when the first report was published yesterday morning, but they had not departed either when the second report was published yesterday evening. It appears to be a deliberate strategy to sow confusion.

On Tuesday, addressing a crowd of supporters, Lula described Bolsonaro’s flight from Brazil as “shameful”, adding that his opponent could have remained in the country to face his accusers in court. “Unfortunately, this is the Bolsonaro family. Brazil is their second home; their first home is the United States,” he said. Brazil’s Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin, for his part, said that Flávio Bolsonaro’s departure from the country was “incomprehensible”. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Those who lose an election thank the voters and congratulate their opponent. And life goes on; that’s democracy,” he told the press at the Alvorada Palace. The OAS has validated the election results in Brazil, but has raised doubts about the legal challenges following Lula’s victory. The observation mission stated that the TSE’s data matches its own records and proposed specific deadlines for reviewing individual judges’ decisions and for resolving disputes with greater predictability. According to his campaign manager, the defeated presidential candidate’s move took even his own party by surprise. “We were surprised, because just yesterday we had discussed the possibility of Flávio — given the approximately 60 million votes he secured — taking on a leadership role within the opposition,” Rogerio Marinho told journalists.