Flávio Bolsonaro Lands in Miami and Declares Himself Brazil's Leader After Election Defeat

Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro landed in Miami on Wednesday after leaving Brazil in defiance of a Supreme Court order, declaring himself his country's rightful leader just days after losing Sunday's runoff election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro arrived at Miami's Opa-locka Executive Airport with his wife and two daughters aboard a private jet, in a departure that has already become a diplomatic headache for Washington.
The journey was carefully routed. The family entered Argentina late on Tuesday, and Reuters tracked a Gulfstream G400 leaving Puerto Iguazú at 12:22 a.m. on Wednesday, stopping in Guayaquil, Ecuador, before flying on to Miami, where AFP witnessed him step off the plane. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the family was inspected and cleared under immigration law, and the State Department had said it would grant them visas. President Donald Trump said he approved of Bolsonaro coming to the United States and called the family "fine people," but told reporters he "won't get involved" in Bolsonaro's claim to the presidency, repeating that Brazil's election was "very strange."
Bolsonaro left after a deadline expired at noon on Tuesday for him to surrender his passports, ordered by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes in a money-laundering investigation in which he denies wrongdoing. In a statement on X he first called himself the elected president, then revised it to call himself Brazil's "leader," saying he did not flee but left for Brazil's sake. Lula, who won the runoff with 51.8 percent of the vote, called the departure shameful. Bolsonaro has refused to concede and has made unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud, while his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup.
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