U.S. issuing visas to Brazil’s Flávio Bolsonaro and family after he lost presidential election, official says

Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro and his family will receive U.S. visas after Bolsonaro lost Brazil’s presidential election over the weekend, a senior State Department official told CBS News on Tuesday.

Bolsonaro, an ally of President Trump, and his family will be allowed entry into the U.S., the official said.

Bolsonaro departed Brazil for the U.S. following his loss to incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s election, according to multiple Brazilian media reports.

A spokesperson for Bolsonaro did not respond to a request for comment. His campaign manager Rogério Marinho also refused to comment. 

Silva said Tuesday it was “shameful” that Bolsonaro had fled Brazil.

“A person who sneaks out of their country must have something to hide,” Silva said, per Agence France-Presse. “The act of leaving Brazil is shameful.”

Bolsonaro’s brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lives in Texas, had publicly encouraged him to leave Brazil if he lost the election.

Bolsonaro has touted his relationship with Mr. Trump and visited the White House in May. The family connections go deeper: Brother Eduardo Bolsonaro was convicted in absentia in June of illegally lobbying the Trump administration and sentenced to four years in prison. A warrant was recently issued for his arrest.

Mr. Trump did not offer a full-throated endorsement of Bolsonaro in the runoff against Lula, as he has with some other right-of-center candidates in Latin America. But he suggested on Monday, without providing evidence, that Brazil’s election was “rigged.”

Bolsonaro’s decision to leave Brazil came as a deadline for him to surrender his regular and diplomatic passports expired at noon Tuesday. It remained unclear whether he had complied.

“This is what the Bolsonaro family is like: Brazil is their second nation, the U.S. is the first,” Lula said Tuesday, according to Reuters. 

Bolsonaro was served with the order to surrender his passports Monday, a day after his stunning loss. Bolsonaro said he received it outside the home where his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup following his 2022 election loss to Lula. After his 2022 defeat, Jair Bolsonaro fled Brazil for Florida. He returned three months later.

The sealed Supreme Court order, viewed by The Associated Press, was issued Sunday. Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat and has made unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud.

Lula, who turned 81 on Tuesday, received more than 64 million votes, compared with fewer than 60 million for Bolsonaro, a margin of nearly 4%.