From the US, Flávio Bolsonaro declares himself Brazil's "president-elect" and promises to lead the opposition against Lula
In a statement released hours after his arrival in the state of Florida, the former presidential candidate denounced alleged election fraud, accused Brazil's Federal Supreme Court of orchestrating a political witch hunt, and thanked Donald Trump and Javier Milei.
Flávio Bolsonaro spoke for the first time since his arrival in the United States. The former presidential candidate from Brazil arrived in Florida on Wednesday with his family, after leaving his country despite a travel ban imposed by the Brazilian courts. From U.S. soil, Bolsonaro issued a statement in which he proclaimed himself the "president-elect" of Brazil and promised to lead the opposition to President Lula da Silva from the United States.
Last Sunday, Bolsonaro was defeated in the runoff of the Brazilian presidential election. He received 48% of the vote, compared to Lula's 51%, who won a fourth term and became the first candidate to finish second in the first round and still win the runoff. Bolsonaro refused to accept the results that same Sunday, questioning the intervention of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in what he described as "a change in the rules of the game in the middle of the match."
The son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro left Brazil on Tuesday night, hours after the STF ordered his passport to be confiscated as part of a judicial investigation. He traveled to Argentina, where he then boarded a flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador. There, along with his family, he finally boarded a flight to the United States.
"This is just the beginning of our fight for democracy"
In the statement, Bolsonaro wrote that he was addressing the Brazilian people and the international community as "the leader of Brazil." Regarding the elections, he stated that he watched "with dismay as electoral fraud unfolded before my eyes."
"The illegitimate and illegal actions of Lula's former lawyer allowed a mathematical impossibility to become a reality and enabled Lula to gain more than 10 million votes between the first and second rounds," the former candidate continued.
He also personally thanked the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the President of Argentina, Javier Milei.
"I want to say—not only to my 60 million voters, but to the Brazilian people—that I am the president-elect and that the criminals who stole the election in Brazil are part of a criminal organization that established a tyranny," he added.
For his part, Flávio Bolsonaro questioned the election results and the judiciary, alluding to the prison sentence his father is serving: "It was not my intention to abandon my homeland, but I know exactly where this is headed. This is the classic playbook for any coup d'état. The political persecution that began with my father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, and has spread to thousands of other ordinary, patriotic Brazilians—and even U.S. citizens—has a single objective: to silence anyone who disagrees with the state of emergency established in Brazil, through a Supreme Court co-opted by the PT criminal organization."
In addition, he was compared to other world leaders who had to exercise leadership from abroad, including Charles de Gaulle, Maria Corina Machado and José Martí.
""I will lead the opposition from here. I will say what you there cannot say, and I will take the risks that you cannot take," he declared.
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