Miami. On Wednesday, the American president added another to the curiosities surrounding the flight of the Brazilian election loser Flávio Bolsonaro to the USA: he did not want to “interfere in this case,” Donald Trump told journalists at the Joint Base Andrews military base.
Trump said on Monday that the presidential election in Brazil was “rigged”. He doubts the victory of the Brazilian head of state Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He promised Bolsonaro and his family visas to enter the USA. The reason for this is Trump's hope for a change of power in Brazil - from which he himself could benefit.
Lula won the runoff election on Sunday with 51.8 percent of the vote, Bolsonaro got 48.2 percent. His Liberal Party admitted defeat, but he himself did not recognize it.
After stops on the South American continent, he landed safely at the small private Opa-locka airport north of Miami with his wife and two daughters, Bolsonaro explained on Platform X that he was the “head of state of Brazil”. He accused his opponents of “stealing” his election victory. He also announced that he would lead the opposition from the USA in the future.
He can obviously count on Trump's support. On Wednesday evening he spoke again of a “strange choice”, but that he did not want to comment further. The day before he had said that he only knew Flávio a little and his father “very well”. And he added: “I think they are decent people.”
Flávio Bolsonaro's father Jair was President of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. In 2022 he also fled to Florida after losing the election against Lula. During the three-month stay, his supporters stormed Brasília on January 8, 2023 and vandalized several government buildings.
After his return, Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for a planned coup. He is currently serving his sentence under house arrest in Brasília for health reasons.
His son can rely on a well-organized network of supporters in the USA. Flávio Bolsonaro's younger brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, has also been living in the USA since March last year, in Texas.
From there, he organized the Trump administration's support from the start in the legal fight against the Jair Bolsonaro case in Brazil. Eduard Bolsonaro himself was sentenced to four years in prison precisely because of this interference in the Brazilian proceedings. He lost his parliamentary mandate in Brasília due to long-term absence.
The Brazilian judiciary has now ordered an investigation into Flávio Bolsonaro because of possible financial support from abroad. According to the Brazilian constitution, political parties are prohibited from receiving financial support from abroad.
Among other things, the so-called Rockbridge Network and its contacts with Brazilian entrepreneurs will be examined. This emerges from an order signed by Federal Judge Flávio Dino.
Flávio Bolsonaro is also suspected of having received money in what is currently the country's largest corruption scandal, “Banco Master”. In addition, he is said to have maintained an offshore account together with the lawyer Willer Tomaz, through which winnings from sports betting amounting to several million dollars were said to have flowed. Bolsonaro denies both allegations and describes the proceedings as politically motivated.
There were already rumors in Florida on Tuesday that Flávio Bolsonaro had landed in Miami. These rumors were apparently spread by confidants of the election loser in order to deceive the Brazilian authorities.
What happens next? There will be a press conference later on Thursday. The exact time is unknown, as is the location where Bolsonaro is now staying. For security reasons, according to local authorities.
Lula's election victory is a setback for the US President. He sees South America as his sphere of influence and wants to have governments in the region's countries that support this. Brazil is the last major South American country whose leadership is openly defending itself against Trump’s “neo-imperialism.”
For Trump, an allegedly politically persecuted opposition leader who was allegedly cheated out of his election victory could now be an instrument to put pressure on Lula. It can therefore be assumed that the resistance of the Bolsonaro family in exile against Lula will find the support of the US President. Even if he doesn't want to say it openly yet. In any case, Trump seems to consider the risk of becoming a refuge for right-wing criminals with this support to be calculable.
