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Defeated presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro landed in Miami on Wednesday morning

October 28, 2026

CBS News and The New York Times report that defeated presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro landed in Miami with his family on Wednesday morning after losing Brazil's presidential election and fleeing the country, and after US officials told CBS News that he and his family would receive US as he faces investigation for corruption.

The Globe and Mail reports that the stunning move came after 48 hours in which Bolsonaro refused to concede to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and then threatened to attempt to annul the election result. According to The Globe and Mail, on Monday, the US said that it would grant visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family. Ana Ionova and Alice Maciel reported from Brasília and Edward Wong from Washington, The New York Times reports.

Key facts

According to The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, and Al Jazeera, Bolsonaro first fled from Brazil to Argentina and then Ecuador alongside his wife and two daughters, Argentina’s migration authority said Wednesday – a day after the 45-year-old senator and his family were granted United States visas by the Trump administration. A jet carrying the Brazilian far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro has landed in Miami, Florida, where the losing candidate in Sunday’s presidential election runoff left the airport under police escort without speaking to the press, The Guardian and Al Jazeera report.

The Globe and Mail reports that Bolsonaro’s father, Jair Bolsonaro, also fled to Florida after losing the 2022 presidential election to Lula before returning to Brazil three months later. Reuters TV images showed Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters disembarking from the Gulfstream G400 and heading into Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, NBC News and The Guardian report. Their journey to the United States captured attention across the region, NBC News and Al Jazeera report.

NBC News and Al Jazeera report that they entered northern Argentina late on Tuesday evening, according to the country’s migration department, and then took a private jet to the Ecuadorean city of Guayaquil.

The Globe and Mail reports that the stunning move came after 48 hours in which Bolsonaro refused to concede to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and then threatened to attempt to annul the election result. According to The Globe and Mail, on Monday, the US said that it would grant visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family. Ana Ionova and Alice Maciel reported from Brasília and Edward Wong from Washington, The New York Times reports. The New York Times reports that just after 9:30 a.m., Mr. Bolsonaro could be seen leaving a plane at a private airport in Miami along with his family, according to news media video footage. Bolsonaro’s escape to Florida also echoes similar actions by his father, Jair Bolsonaro, who came to the state and stayed for several months after losing a presidential election in 2022, Politico reports. The court had ordered Bolsonaro to hand over his regular and diplomatic passports by noon Tuesday – two days after he lost the vote to Lula, The Globe and Mail reports. Bolsonaro, who loses his immunity from prosecution when his Senate term ends in February, had said on Monday after the order to hand in his passports that he had no plans to flee, NBC News reports. Some in the Brazilian government suspected Bolsonaro allies had spent Tuesday privately telling the press he was already on his way to the US to distract from his real plan to go through Argentina, The Guardian reports. While the projected results may represent a setback for Netanyahu and his nationalist-religious coalition, a deadlock could work in his favour, leaving the 77-year-old in office as a caretaker prime minister during what are likely to be prolonged coalition negotiations or even until another election can be held, CBC News reports.

CBS News and The New York Times agree that defeated presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro landed in Miami with his family on Wednesday morning after losing Brazil's presidential election and fleeing the country, and after US officials told CBS News that he and his family would receive US as he faces investigation for corruption. Bolsonaro does not read the same way from one account to the next.

Still developing

Bolsonaro does not read the same way from one account to the next.

How settled the reporting is

Reported 89% · Contested 4% · Developing 7%

Sources

Toggle read the full reports of 7 of the 9 outlets counted on this event. The other 2 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.