SAO PAULO — Brazil’s Flavio Bolsonaro said on Wednesday he left for the United States to avoid the “politicization of the justice system in Brazil,” claiming he was the rightful president-elect despite his defeat to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.Bolsonaro, who landed in Miami after losing the presidential election on Sunday, has said it was never his intention to “leave my homeland”.”I did not flee Brazil; I left for the sake of Brazil,” he said in his first statement since his self-imposed exile.Bolsonaro, 45, touched down earlier Wednesday in a private jet at Opa-Locka Executive Airport near Miami.Bolsonaro’s defiance on arrival in Florida signaled continued upheaval for Brazil.”I am the elected president, and the criminals who stole Brazil’s election are part of a criminal organization that has established a tyranny,” Bolsonaro said in the statement published on his X account.””I will lead the opposition from here,” he added. Rogerio Marinho, the leader of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party in the Senate, told reporters in Brasilia that he was in “solidarity” with the former candidate, describing him as a “political exile.” However, he distanced himself from Bolsonaro’s statement, and refused to back up Bolsonaro’s claims of electoral fraud. “The Liberal Party cannot make that claim,” he said. “There is no evidence of that.”The US provided visas to him and his family after Brazil canceled his passports as part of a criminal investigation. Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump told reporters: “We gave him a pass to come into the country”.Newly re-elected Lula criticized Bolsonaro’s secretive departure from the country, saying “those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear”.Bolsonaro’s arrival in Florida ended days of confusion over his whereabouts, after he was reported to have travelled to Argentina, and then prematurely reported to have already entered the US on Tuesday.In a statement, Bolsonaro thanked both the presidents of Argentina and the US, and the American public “who share the same values as the good people of my own country”.”It was never my intention to leave my homeland, but I know exactly where this is heading,” he said. “I departed from a regime of exception so that I could become the leader my people deserve.”He called himself a victim of a coup d’état and political persecution, and said his travel to the US was to protect his family.In the lengthy letter, he also repeated unsubstantiated allegations of “electoral fraud” which he said allowed a “mathematical impossibility” to occur in the election.On Wednesday, Trump declined to discuss the allegations made in Bolsonaro’s letter.”I won’t get involved. It was a very strange election, that’s for sure,” Trump said. He went on to add that he thought Bolsonaro “and his family were treated very unfairly”.After Bolsonaro won the first round of Brazil’s election, Lula won the second round by more than four million votes, which was attributed to significantly higher turnout and swaying more undecided voters.The result was confirmed by the president of Brazil’s top electoral court, who was appointed by Bolsonaro’s father, former president Jair Bolsonaro.Flávio Bolsonaro is not the first member of his family to travel to the United States.His father, Jair Bolsonaro, also left Brazil for Florida in December 2022 before his successor, Lula, was inaugurated.Jair was still in the US when his supporters stormed Brazil’s government buildings and Supreme Court on 8 January. He later used his absence as part of his defence in his coup trial, which ultimately led to his conviction and 27-year sentence.Flávio’s brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, meanwhile, has been living in Texas after taking leave from Brazil’s Congress. While in the US, he lobbied officials there in an attempt to influence the coup trial of his father, which led to the US imposing punitive tariffs on Brazil and sanctions on key officials.Eduardo was convicted in absentia over this by Brazil’s highest court earlier this year.It is not yet clear what Flávio Bolsonaro’s ultimate destination will be, nor how long he plans to stay in the US.He is the subject of two investigations currently pending before Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court.One is regarding possible irregularities in the transfer of nearly $70m (£53m) from private bank Banco Master to the film Dark Horse – a biopic about his father.The second investigation relates to alleged money laundering, both of which Bolsonaro denies.He is set to lose his parliamentary immunity on 31 January, when his eight-year Senate term ends.
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