Brazil's Flávio Bolsonaro heading for Ecuador, Argentina says
Flávio Bolsonaro, who lost Brazil's presidential election, was en route to Ecuador after stopping off in Argentina, an Argentine agency said. Earlier, a State Department official told CBS News they would receive U.S. visas.
Key points
- Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro and his family left Brazil after his election loss and were heading to Ecuador via Argentina.
- A senior State Department official told CBS News that Bolsonaro and his family would receive U.S. visas.
- President Lula called Bolsonaro's departure shameful and said a person who sneaks out of their country must have something to hide.
Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro and his family were en route to Ecuador after leaving Brazil and stopping in Argentina, the Argentine National Directorate of Migration said on social media. Bolsonaro lost Brazil's hotly contested presidential election over the weekend.
Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters arrived in Argentina Tuesday night through the Tancredo Neves International Bridge border crossing, the directorate said, then boarded a private plane for a flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador. There was no word on whether they would remain in Ecuador.
U.S. visas and Trump's reaction
A senior State Department official told CBS News that Bolsonaro and his family would receive U.S. visas and be allowed entry into the U.S. Bolsonaro departed Brazil after being defeated by incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday's election, according to multiple Brazilian media reports.
President Trump told reporters Wednesday that he approves of Bolsonaro coming to the U.S., saying "It would be OK with me." Trump had suggested on Monday, without providing evidence, that Brazil's election was "rigged."
A person who sneaks out of their country must have something to hide
— Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Passport deadline and Lula's criticism
Bolsonaro's departure came as a deadline for him to surrender his regular and diplomatic passports expired at noon Tuesday. It remained unclear whether he had complied. He was served with the order to surrender his passports Monday, a day after his loss.
Lula said Tuesday it was "shameful" that Bolsonaro had fled Brazil. "A person who sneaks out of their country must have something to hide," Lula said, per Agence France-Presse. "The act of leaving Brazil is shameful."
