Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro and his family are set to receive US visas despite his defeat in Brazil’s presidential election.
The news was confirmed to CBS News by a senior US State Department official.
Bolsonaro, an ally of US President Donald Trump, has left Brazil for the United States following his defeat in Sunday’s election against incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazilian media report.
Lula, who turned 81 on Tuesday, received more than 64 million votes, while Bolsonaro secured fewer than 60 million.
The margin between the two candidates was approximately 4%.
The senator’s departure from Brazil comes at a difficult time for the Bolsonaro family. The deadline to surrender his ordinary and diplomatic passports expired at noon on Tuesday, but it remains unclear whether he complied with the order.
Bolsonaro was notified of the order on Monday, one day after his election defeat. According to the Associated Press, Brazil’s Supreme Court issued the order on Sunday. The senator has refused to concede defeat and has made unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud.
The family’s ties to the Trump administration are well known. Flávio Bolsonaro has publicly promoted his relationship with the US president and visited the White House in May. Meanwhile, his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lives in Texas, had publicly urged him to leave Brazil in the event of an electoral defeat.
Eduardo Bolsonaro was sentenced in absentia in June to four years in prison for illegally lobbying the Trump administration.
An arrest warrant has also recently been issued against him.
Donald Trump has also commented on Brazil’s election. On Monday, without presenting evidence, he suggested that the electoral process had been rigged. However, he had not given Flávio Bolsonaro an explicit public endorsement during his campaign against Lula.
The Bolsonaro family has faced legal consequences following previous elections as well, including those held in 2022.
Jair Bolsonaro, Flávio’s father and Brazil’s former president, is serving a 27-year prison sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup following his defeat to Lula that year.
After losing the 2022 election, Jair Bolsonaro travelled to Florida and returned to Brazil three months later.
Flávio Bolsonaro’s spokesperson and campaign manager, Rogério Marinho, have not commented on the senator’s departure or the issue of US visas.
