Flávio Bolsonaro received by US authorities as he lands in Florida with family

Brazil's defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro arrived in Florida by private plane Wednesday,  after defying a court order that banned him from leaving his country.

Following swirling speculation over his whereabouts, the 45-year-old was seen disembarking the jet at Opa-Locka Executive Airport outside Miami, having flown via Argentina and Ecuador.

Bolsonaro who lost a run-off election to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday, is under investigation in Brazil for alleged corruption and money-laundering and, with his election loss, is set to lose parliamentary immunity.

The plane – also carrying his wife and daughters – that landed in Florida had made a brief stop in Guayaquil, Ecuador in the early hours of Wednesday.

Bolsonaro had seemed likely to be the next president after he came out on top in the first round of elections, but Lula made a surprise surge to retain power.

Flávio Bolsonaro had campaigned on a pledge to liberate his father, who is under house arrest for coup-plotting after his own electoral loss to Lula in 2022.

Jair Bolsonaro,  a close ally of US President Donald Trump, never conceded defeat and left the country on the eve of his rival's inauguration, only returning to Brazil three months later.

US visa

A police source told AFP that Flávio Bolsonaro's Brazilian and diplomatic passports had been cancelled, but the senator has held Italian nationality since 2023, according to Italian documents seen by the AFP news agency.

Washington has said it would grant him a US visa.

Flávio Bolsonaro said in a video posted on Instagram on Monday that he "never had any intention of leaving the country" and the ban on his exit was a scare tactic.

Flávio said the travel ban was ordered by a Supreme Court justice, and was based on a comment by his US-based brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, who said before the election that "if my brother does not win, I am in favour that he would leave the country."

Lula, who won the election with 51.8 percent of the vote, called fleeing the country a "shameful" act.

"A person who sneaks out of their country must have something to hide," he said in Brasília during his 81st birthday celebration on Tuesday.

Following his loss, Flávio Bolsonaro said he would seek to annul the result, citing the decision to extend polling hours over transport problems that prevented some citizens from voting.

While congratulations rolled in for Lula from world leaders on both sides of the political divide, Trump said the election "looked terrible to me."

"I didn't take sides but it looked like another rigged election frankly... it looked so corrupt," he told reporters in Washington.

"I just thought it was a very bad look, the way it was tabulated – with the extension."

– TIMES/AFP