Flavio Bolsonaro: Passport Seized Hours After Defeat as He Declares “The System Won”
Flavio Bolsonaro released a video Monday morning after visiting his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who remains under house arrest. Federal Police agents stopped him on the street outside the residence and ordered him to hand over his passports. He is now barred from leaving Brazil.
“I never thought about leaving the country,” he said. “I will hand over my passports and I will defend myself against this aberration, which is a clear attempt to intimidate me. But no one is going to silence me.”
The order came from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, issued Sunday night immediately after the election result was announced. Bolsonaro noted that the decision rested on a comment by his brother Eduardo, not on anything he himself said. “Is that a reason to take my passport? Is that justice?”
He described the timing as decisive. “Think about it: if I had won the election, would this same Federal Police have been standing there on the street summoning me? This is a sign that our democracy has failed. It was a decision taken according to the election result—a political question. It cannot be like this.”
Bolsonaro also rejected the election outcome itself. For the first time in Brazilian history, he said, an STF minister who had previously served as Lula’s lawyer overrode the electoral court and extended voting hours until 7 p.m. after polls had closed. “What happened in that interval no one can understand. This needs to be clarified.”
He contrasted the reaction he expects with what would have occurred in reverse. “Imagine if it were the opposite. A minister appointed by Bolsonaro taking a decision that changed the rules of the game after the game was already over. What would be the reaction of the PT? What would be the reaction of part of the press? What would be the reaction of the world? Would Lula recognize my victory? Certainly not.”
On the campaign, Bolsonaro accused Lula of injecting nearly half a trillion reais in public money into “the largest vote-buying operation in the history of Brazilian elections.” He said the contest became an abuse of political and economic power and that he will seek the cassation of Lula’s ticket. “The law has to apply to everyone. The competition has to be fair and equal. That did not happen. It was not me who lost. It was the system that won.”
He closed by positioning himself as the remaining obstacle to what he called the PT’s “project of destruction of the country,” which he said has already begun with the dollar surging, the stock market collapsing, and investors fleeing. With majorities in both the Senate and Chamber, he intends to organize the opposition as a “fortress against the barbarism” he sees coming with four more years of Lula.
“They will not silence me. They will not intimidate me. Let’s raise our heads and keep fighting for our Brazil, whatever happens. We will not give up on our Brazil.”