Translated from the original Spanish article. Read in Spanish
News published on October 28, 2026. The situation may have changed since then.
It's now official: Flávio Bolsonaro is in the United States. The former presidential candidate landed with his family in Miami on the morning of Wednesday, October 28, 2026, three days after losing the election to Lula and even though a judge had barred him from leaving Brazil.
Updated October 28: the arrival in Miami is now confirmed.
The judge's order
After the runoff, Supreme Federal Court justice Alexandre de Moraes gave him 24 hours to hand over his passports and barred him from leaving the country. He is being investigated, along with his friend, lawyer Willer Tomaz, in an alleged money-laundering case. Flávio denies any wrongdoing.
He didn't hand over his passports in time, and the Federal Police canceled them. By then, he was already gone.
The trip: Argentina and a private jet
On Tuesday, the first day, there were conflicting versions. But then Argentina's National Migration Directorate reported that it recorded his entry from Brazil on the night of October 27, traveling with his family.
According to Times Brasil and CNN Brasil, the group took off Wednesday morning from Puerto Iguazú on a Gulfstream G400 private jet. According to flight-tracking sites, it landed at 10:25 a.m. Brasília time at Opa-locka Executive Airport, a private-jet terminal near Miami.
What still isn't clear
Some details don't match. An Argentine outlet, TN, said the plane was taking the family to Ecuador, and Argentina's migration authority mentioned a stopover on the way to that country. U.S. media, on the other hand, report the arrival in Miami as fact. There's also no agreement on how many people were on board.
And one important point: no asylum request has been confirmed. What the U.S. government did confirm is that it will issue visas to him and his family. We cover that in [this story](flavio-trump-visas.html).
"Shameful"
President Lula called Flávio's departure "shameful", according to the press. And lawmakers from his party have already asked Justice Moraes for his preventive arrest and an Interpol alert. We explain what could happen now [here](flavio-que-pasa.html).
This story is also a video
We explain it in a video on our channel (in Spanish). Subscribe for the story behind each headline.
Watch the video on YouTubeDo you think Flávio is fleeing justice, or political persecution?
Tell us in the comments on the video.
Sources (in Spanish)
- Llegada a Miami el 28 de octubre de 2026 y visados: CBS News Miami, NBC News y The Hill.
- Ruta por Puerto Iguazú, avión Gulfstream G400, Opa-locka y versión de Ecuador: Times Brasil y CNN Brasil.
- Orden del juez, pasaportes cancelados e investigación por lavado de dinero: CartaCapital y SBT News.
- Primeras versiones del 27 de octubre: La Nación, Cadena 3 y elDiario.es.
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons under free licenses; the author and license are shown under each image.
