U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the Trump administration had not helped Flávio Bolsonaro leave Brazil for the United States after his presidential election defeat. Speaking to reporters in Atlanta, Rubio denied that Washington had arranged the defeated candidate’s departure following his loss to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro reached Miami on Wednesday. His arrival came one day after the State Department announced that he and his family would receive U.S. visas following his loss in the previous weekend’s closely contested election. The Brazilian result ran counter to a pattern of conservative election victories elsewhere in Latin America.
Rubio said U.S. officials had received word that Bolsonaro was in the country. He noted that Bolsonaro had held a visa previously and that President Donald Trump had decided to permit his entry. Rubio said the government had no direct involvement in the movements that brought him to the United States, telling reporters: “We didn’t facilitate anything.”
The secretary of state was in Atlanta for a gathering of senior diplomats from the Group of 20 largest world economies. He said he had seen Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on both Friday and Saturday. Rubio also expected to meet Brazilian officials again in November in France, which is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers.
Bolsonaro has declined to concede the election and has alleged fraud without presenting evidence. Trump had given him tacit backing during the campaign. His departure also came amid investigations in Brazil into corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. Police had considered him a flight risk, and he had been ordered to hand over his passport.
A senator representing Rio de Janeiro, Bolsonaro is set to lose his seat when the new Brazilian legislature opens on Feb. 1. During an Instagram livestream on Friday, he again asserted that he was being persecuted.
In a letter issued Wednesday, the 45-year-old described himself as Brazil’s rightful president-elect before later adopting the more limited description of leader. He likened himself to several figures, including Charles de Gaulle, who directed French resistance to Nazi occupation from London during World War II.
His father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, similarly refused to recognize his own defeat by Lula in the 2022 election. The elder Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup.
