Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro and family to receive U.S. visas after Bolsonaro leaves office Brazilian presidential election defeated A senior State Department official told CBS News on Tuesday over the weekend.
The official said Bolsonaro, an ally of President Trump, and his family will be allowed into the United States.
Bolsonaro left Brazil for the United States after losing Sunday’s election to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, according to multiple Brazilian media reports.
Bolsonaro’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. His campaign manager Rogerio Marinho also declined to comment.
Silva said on Tuesday it was “shameful” for Bolsonaro to flee Brazil.
According to Agence France-Presse, Silva said: “A person who sneaks out of his own country must have something to hide.” “The act of leaving Brazil is shameful.”
Bolsonaro’s brother Eduardo Bolsonaro lives in Texas and has publicly encouraged him to leave Brazil if he loses the election.
Bolsonaro has touted his relationship with Trump and visited the White House in May. The family ties run deeper: Brother Eduardo Bolsonaro was convicted in absentia in June of illegally lobbying the Trump administration and sentenced to four years in prison. A warrant was recently issued for his arrest.
Trump does not fully support Bolsonaro In the runoff with Lulaas he has done with a number of other center-right candidates in Latin America. But he suggested on Monday that Brazil’s election was “rigged” without providing evidence.
Bolsonaro’s decision to leave Brazil comes as a deadline for him to hand over his ordinary and diplomatic passports expired at noon on Tuesday. It was unclear whether he complied with the request.
“This is what the Bolsonaro family is like: Brazil is their second country, the United States is their first country,” Lula said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Bolsonaro was ordered to hand over his passport on Monday, a day after his stunning defeat. Bolsonaro said he received the letter on the doorstep of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been under house arrest for 27 years for attempting a coup after losing the 2022 election to Lula. After defeat in 2022, Jair Bolsonaro fled Brazil for Florida. He returned three months later.
The Supreme Court’s sealed order was issued on Sunday and was seen by The Associated Press. Bolsonaro has refused to admit defeat and has leveled unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud.
Lula, who turned 81 on Tuesday, received more than 64 million votes to Bolsonaro’s less than 60 million, a gap of nearly 4%.