Market News
← Back to Home

A timeline of Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro's wild journey to the United States

Reuters
A timeline of Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro's wild journey to the United States

By Gabriel Araujo

SAO PAULO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Flavio Bolsonaro's sudden departure from Brazil — ‌less than three days after his election defeat — started on Sunday with his refusal to concede in the runoff and culminated in his arrival in Miami via Argentina and Ecuador aboard a private jet on Wednesday.

The right-wing ​lawmaker left ‌after receiving a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports in connection with a money-laundering investigation, in which he denies ‌wrongdoing.

Below is a timeline of the events. All times are Brasilia time (GMT-3).

SUNDAY — ELECTION DEFEAT AND CHALLENGE

• Bolsonaro loses Brazil's presidential runoff election to leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, despite having entered the race as the favorite after winning the first-round vote

• Bolsonaro does ‌not concede defeat and says he would seek annulment of the election, arguing that a Supreme Court decision extending voting hours by two hours had affected the outcome

• World leaders quickly recognize Lula's victory, but US President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei initially remain silent

MONDAY — PASSPORT ORDER

• Trump alleges, without presenting evidence, that the Brazilian election "looked like another rigged election," but Bolsonaro's Liberal Party acknowledges the runoff result

• Bolsonaro posts a ⁠video on social media saying federal police had requested he turn in his passports following an order from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre ‌de Moraes

• The senator said he would comply with the ⁠order and rejected speculation that he planned to flee Brazil after the election

TUESDAY — REPORTS OF DEPARTURE

• 1:00 a.m.: Argentine news site Infobae reports that ​Bolsonaro had left Brazil for Argentina and planned to continue to the US aboard a private jet waiting at Puerto Iguazu airport near the border

• 11:15 a.m.: Argentine immigration authorities say they have no record of Bolsonaro entering the country, adding that ​inspectors had checked the aircraft and its crew and found no flight plan listing Bolsonaro or his family

• 11:30 a.m.: ​A spokesperson for ‌Milei says Argentina had taken note of Lula's victory but did not plan to congratulate him, and declines to comment on whether Argentina ​would consider an asylum request from Bolsonaro

• 12:00 p.m.: Bolsonaro misses the deadline to surrender his passports; although his whereabouts are ⁠unknown, federal police sources tell Reuters the documents have been canceled

• 2:15 p.m.: CNN Brasil ‌reports, citing Bolsonaro ​allies, that the senator has traveled to the US

• 2:20 p.m.: An ally of Bolsonaro ​tells Reuters he has already left Brazil and is heading to the US

• 2:30 p.m.: A US official tells Reuters that Bolsonaro is on a plane bound for the US

• 6:05 p.m.: A senior US State Department official says that Bolsonaro and his family would be allowed to enter the country and would receive visas

• 6:25 p.m.: Lula describes Bolsonaro's departure from Brazil after ‌his election defeat as "shameful"

WEDNESDAY — ARRIVAL IN THE UNITED STATES

• 12:22 a.m.: Flight-tracking data shows a Baires Fly Gulfstream G400, registration LV-JQW, departing Puerto Iguazu

• 1:30 a.m.: Trump says he would have approved Bolsonaro's arrival in the US and describes Brazil's election as "very strange"

• 2:00 a.m.: Argentina's migration ‌authority says Bolsonaro and his family ​had entered the province of Misiones late on October 27 using valid travel documents, adding they crossed the Tancredo Neves Bridge in Puerto Iguazu and later boarded a private Baires Fly flight bound for Guayaquil, Ecuador

• 5:46 a.m.: The aircraft arrives in Guayaquil, according to flight-tracking data

• 6:22 a.m.: The plane departs Guayaquil for Miami's Opa-locka Executive Airport, according to flight-tracking firm FlightAware

• 10:31 a.m.: The aircraft arrives in Miami; ‌Reuters TV images show Bolsonaro disembarking along with his wife and two daughters

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Aurora Ellis)