Bolsonaro on escape to US: ‘I didn’t get help from any governments’

Former Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, who fled to the United States after losing the runoff, told The New York Times on Thursday that he “didn’t get any help from any governments” to leave Brazil, despite being under a travel ban and crossing Argentina and Ecuador before reaching his destination.

The 45-year-old senator arrived in Miami on October 28, three days after losing the runoff against incumbent Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva. 

A travel ban had been imposed on him the morning after the election, and he went missing in Brasília after posting a video that Monday evening saying he would comply with the order.

He resurfaced in Miami on Wednesday, around 36 hours later, after leaving the Argentine border city of Puerto Iguazú aboard a private plane that stopped in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to refuel.

Questions about how he had managed to leave Brazil emerged immediately after his arrival, particularly over whether he had entered Argentina legally and whether he had received assistance from Argentine President and former ally Javier Milei.

“I did it all on my own. I didn’t get any help from anyone at all, from any government,” Bolsonaro told The New York Times. “How I got here is something I’ll take to my grave.”

‘Lost to the system’ In the interview, Bolsonaro also criticized Brazil’s judiciary, describing it as politically motivated.

Although the former presidential candidate has not been charged with any crimes, he had been ordered by the Supreme Court to surrender his passports as part of two ongoing corruption and money-laundering investigations.

Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court imposed the travel ban after considering him a severe flight risk following his presidential election defeat. 

Once his term as a senator ends in early 2027, Bolsonaro will lose his parliamentary immunity and could face prosecution.

“I know that the end result will be my imprisonment,” the Liberal Party candidate said, explaining his decision to leave.

Bolsonaro refused to acknowledge his election defeat, despite his own party having accepted the results. Instead, he claimed that he had “lost to the system.”

Without providing evidence, he said Lula’s victory — after Bolsonaro had come first in the initial round of voting — was “mathematically impossible.”

In his interview with The New York Times, he said he was “suspicious” of possible fraud involving voting machines and insisted that “no one can say with 100% certainty that I’m right, nor with 100% certainty that I’m wrong.”

Investigations in Argentina In Argentina, investigations into whether officials in Javier Milei’s administration used state resources to help Bolsonaro leave the country are already underway, following complaints filed by Buenos Aires City left-wing lawmaker Gabriel Solano and deputy Esteban Paulón.

Federal prosecutor Paloma Ochoa’s investigation seeks to determine whether state resources — including official vehicles, personnel, cash and other public assets — were used to assist the former presidential candidate and, if so, whether their use was authorized.

A key part of the investigation will be to establish whether there was coordination among different branches of the Executive and whether state resources were allocated to facilitate Bolsonaro and his family’s movements.

The complaints also seek to establish whether political instructions were issued to facilitate the operation and whether officials deliberately failed to carry out mandatory checks.

Federal Judge María Eugenia Capuchetti, who is overseeing the case, ordered the preservation of security camera footage from the Tancredo Neves International Bridge, Puerto Iguazú airport and border control areas operated by Migration and Customs. 

The footage covers Bolsonaro and his family’s movements between October 27 and 28.

She also requested reports from the National Directorate of Migration to verify the Brazilian politician’s entry and exit records, as well as inspections carried out on the passengers and the private jet they traveled on.

The court also requested information from the Foreign Ministry and the Security Ministry to determine whether they had received warnings, communications or requests for cooperation from Brazilian authorities concerning Bolsonaro’s legal status.