Brazil's defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro posted a video message on social media late Friday to declare he had fled to the US because he was a victim of 'persecution'. Bolsonaro, who lost Sunday's election runoff to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, gave no details of how he left the country.
Page A226From§Eachthe afternoon edition — 31 October 2026
Bolsonaro threatens to annul the election he lost, flees instead, declares himself leader anyway.
As it ran on the front
Today we are making a non-concession, which is not a dish you can get over here, so I will go slowly. You will need a presidential runoff held on a Sunday, a candidate who refuses to accept he lost it, a flight to Miami, and a president in Washington who has not yet said who won; there is no quick substitute for an actual concession.
Clive Won. I am, if we are keeping score, the only person in this house who has ever actually won an argument, and I believe Gary will confirm it was Tuesday.
Gary Confirm nothing. The only thing settled on a Tuesday in this house is the boiler going off, and Clive conceding that was not a win, it was a draught.
Begin with the forty-eight hours. Flavio Bolsonaro, who lost a dramatic runoff Sunday to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, spent them refusing to concede, then threatening to annul the result outright; that part went back in the pan before it was finished, and by Wednesday he was on a plane to Miami instead.
Rob Plane. Of course it's a plane. Does nobody else wonder who's left doing the washing up when the person who caused the mess just leaves?
He landed in Miami on Wednesday, the twenty-eighth of October; the Morning Star reported that same day that Trump had rejected Brazil's election result outright. Washington has still not said who actually won.
Keith Won. There's money in won. If nobody's saying who won, somebody should be selling tickets to the wait, and I know a man with a lanyard printer.
France 24, reporting the arrival, called it the start of a 'self-imposed exile,' and said his defiance 'signaled continued upheaval for Brazil.' On Friday he posted his own video from that exile and gave it a different name: 'persecution,' he said, without saying how he had actually left the country.
Gary Self-imposed. That's a laugh. The exile I'd self-impose is upstairs, away from Keith's lanyard scheme, and I wouldn't need a passport, just a lock.
None of this is new. In 2022, Jair Bolsonaro, his father, lost to the same Lula da Silva and also fled to Florida, before he eventually returned to Brazil. France 24, previewing this October's vote, had already noted that the father was in prison over what it called 'the Brazilian version of the January 6th storming of the US Capitol.' You will be looking for the court that settles who actually leads a country; there is no court here, only a telephone call from Washington that has not yet come.
Brazilian voters elected Lula da Silva on Sunday. Flavio Bolsonaro is in Miami calling himself the country's leader anyway, and the head of state in Washington has not said he is wrong.
Keith Leader anyway. I like that. If nobody's checking, I'm landlord anyway, and the rent's gone up accordingly.
“Losing candidate flies to Miami, cries persecution, never explains how he got out, and the President of the United States still won't say who actually won the election. His father ran the same play after he lost in 2022, same city, same silence from Washington. This isn't foreign policy, it's a franchise.”
“The administration isn't refusing anything, it's exercising caution before endorsing a foreign tally — that's due diligence, not a snub. And Bolsonaro didn't flee, he relocated, citing a persecution he still hasn't detailed, including how he left the country. Did I just call "no comment" a travel itinerary? That's not landing like I wanted.”
The receipts
Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro and his family landed in Miami on Wednesday (October 28) after fleeing Brazil. The stunning move came after 48 hours in which Bolsonaro refused to concede to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and then threatened to attempt to annul the election result. Details by…
Brazil's defeated far-right presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro insisted on Wednesday he is his country's rightful leader after arriving in the United States to start a self-imposed exile. Bolsonaro's defiance on fleeing to Florida signalled continued upheaval for Brazil, where leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a…
· Defeated Bolsonaro flees to Miami as Trump rejects Brazil election result from the morgue, 28 Oct 2026
· Return of the Bolsonaros: Why the far-right surge in Brazilian elections? from the morgue, 5 Oct 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.