Flávio Bolsonaro flees Brazil after presidential election loss, reports say

Far-right senator en route to US after missing deadline to hand over his passport since loss to Lula

The far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro has reportedly fled Brazil and is on his way to the United States after losing Sunday’s presidential election to the leftwing incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

A report by the news website Metrópoles, citing people close to the politician’s family, said he was en route to the US. “The plane is in flight,” Metrópoles reported, without making clear where it had departed from.

Bolsonaro allies told Metrópoles that he would land in Florida on Tuesday afternoon and planned to request political asylum. “The Donald Trump administration has been informed,” the website added.

Allies also confirmed to the Folha de S Paulo newspaper that he was on his way to the US, and said the escape plan had been “organized and enabled by a lawyer close to the Bolsonaro clan”.

“They say the flight should land in a few hours,” the newspaper added.

The news network CNN Brasil reported that Bolsonaro had fled to the US with his wife and two daughters in the early hours of this morning.

A US state department spokesperson said Bolsonaro and his family would be granted visas “to allow them entry into the United States”.

Lula slammed what he called Bolsonaro’s “shameful” decision to flee. “This is what the family Bolsonaro are like. Brazil is their second homeland. Their first homeland is licking the boots of the US, as he’s become accustomed to doing,” he said at an event celebrating his 81st birthday in Brasília.