US to grant visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and family after his Brazil election defeat, official says

The United States will issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family, a senior State Department official told CBS News on Tuesday, two days after the Brazilian senator lost the presidential runoff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The official said the family would be allowed to enter the US. The State Department has not issued an on-the-record statement, and the type of visa was not given.

Where is Flávio Bolsonaro?

Several Brazilian media outlets reported that he had left Brazil for the US after Sunday's defeat, but his exact whereabouts were unclear on Tuesday. His spokesperson did not respond to CBS, and his campaign manager, Rogério Marinho, declined to comment. His brother Eduardo, who lives in Texas, had publicly urged him to leave the country if he lost.

The passport order

Brazil's Supreme Court issued a sealed order on Sunday, served on Monday and seen by the AP, telling Bolsonaro to surrender both his regular and diplomatic passports. The deadline passed at noon on Tuesday (8pm Pakistan time), and it is not clear whether he complied.

How the runoff went

Bolsonaro has not conceded and has alleged fraud without evidence. US President Donald Trump, who did not fully endorse him, suggested on Monday, also without evidence, that the vote was "rigged". Flávio visited the White House in May. Our Brazil election result story has the full count.

The family's legal history

Flávio's father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup after his 2022 election loss; after that defeat he also went to Florida, returning three months later. Eduardo Bolsonaro was convicted in absentia in June of illegally lobbying the Trump administration, sentenced to four years, and a warrant for his arrest has recently been issued, CBS reported. No separate case against Flávio was described.

Why it matters

The decision puts Washington on the side of a defeated candidate who disputes the result in Latin America's largest democracy, and it echoes his father's trip to Florida after the 2022 defeat. Brazil's next step is whether the courts treat his departure as a breach of the passport order.