(FILES) Former Brazilian President (2019-2022) Jair Bolsonaro leaves the DF Star hospital in Brasilia on September 14, 2025, after undergoing a series of medical examinations, as he remains under house arrest. Brazil's public prosecutor's office approved on December 23, 2025 a request from lawyers representing former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to release him from prison so he can undergo surgery for an inguinal hernia on December 25, according to a document accessed by AFP. (Photo by Sergio Lima / AFP)
Brazilian politician Flavio Bolsonaro left his country on Tuesday for the United States, US media reported, after he refused to accept defeat in the presidential runoff election held over the weekend.
Bolsonaro, who faces multiple legal challenges, had his passports cancelled but had not surrendered the documents as of Tuesday afternoon. The New York Times, CNN and other outlets reported that he had left Brazil, citing unnamed US officials.
The US State Department said on Tuesday that it would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family “and allow them entry into the United States” but stopped short of confirming whether they were travelling to the country.
Flavio Bolsonaro is under legal scrutiny in several cases, including a corruption probe into the financing of a biopic about his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest over an alleged plot to stage a coup.
The 45-year-old was defeated by incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday and is set to lose his parliamentary immunity as his legal troubles mount.
While he cried foul and vowed to challenge the election result in court, his party and allies have accepted the outcome, leaving him increasingly isolated.
The New York Times reported that Bolsonaro was also being investigated over his ties to a Brazilian lawyer accused of laundering more than $1bn through an alleged fraud scheme.
Flavio Bolsonaro’s brother, Eduardo, is based in the United States.
Despite media reports that Bolsonaro had entered neighbouring Argentina, the country’s security ministry and migration authorities denied on Tuesday that this had happened.
AFP
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