Brazil's Flávio Bolsonaro flees to U.S. after election loss

Geoff Bennett:

Another member of Brazil's Bolsonaro family has found safe haven from possible prosecution in Brazil by fleeing to the U.S., where they have an ally in President Trump. Just three days after losing Brazil's presidential election, Flavio Bolsonaro, who faces multiple criminal investigations, defied a Brazilian court and left the country.

And, today, he issued a statement saying that he is the rightful leader of Brazil.

Our Stephanie Sy is here with more.

Stephanie Sy:

Geoff, it's been a dramatic few days in Brazil's politics, starting with president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's surprise comeback in Sunday's presidential election. Even though he won by more than four million votes, Bolsonaro refused to concede.

On Monday, a judge ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports and banned him from leaving the country. But, on Tuesday, he and his family crossed by land into neighboring Argentina, then flew to Ecuador. And, today, he was granted entry into the United States, landing at an airport near Miami.

For more on all this, I'm joined by Brian Winter, editor in chief of "Americas Quarterly."

Brian, thanks for joining the "News Hour."

So Bolsonaro issued a statement this afternoon saying he is facing a politically motivated witch-hunt and that he is the true elected president of Brazil.

How do you think this is going to motivate his base? And how do you think this may play out?

Brian:

It's an open question, Stephanie. We will have to see.

But the early indications from Brazilians, including some on the right, are that this is not a strategy that is likely to work. It's hard to set up a parallel government or a government in exile. Flavio Bolsonaro compared himself in this statement to Juan Guaido, who was the Venezuelan president-elect who assumed that role at least in exile for several years and was unable to dislodge Nicolas Maduro from power.

It's important to note that Flavio Bolsonaro's own party, the Liberal Party in Brazil, recognized the results of Sunday's election as legitimate. Other allied countries with the Trump administration in South America have also done so in the last couple of days. So I'm not sure that Flavio Bolsonaro is going to find the audience to be quite as receptive as he's hoping, either in Brazil or in the rest of South America.

Stephanie Sy:

And yet some are arguing that asking Bolsonaro to surrender his passports just a day after the election does look like political retribution and is the result of bias within the judicial system in Brazil. Is that a legitimate concern?

Brian Winter:

You know, it's hard to tell simple stories about Brazil, in part because it's a country where some institutions work exceptionally well. Others have shadows.

One of them is the Brazilian Supreme Court, which has been embroiled in corruption and fallen into some of the political polarization that we have seen in Brazil over the last 10 years or so. And so, yes, there are questions about whether there are political elements in this case against Flavio Bolsonaro, although most legal observers think that the cases themselves are legitimate.

Stephanie Sy:

The Bolsonaros have been cultivating relationships within the Trump administration really for years, and that certainly came into play today. Let's listen to what President Trump said earlier this morning. He was asked about whether he approved of Flavio coming to the U.S. election.

President Donald Trump The election was very strange and I thought it was terrible. It's gotten bad reviews. You look at what happened to their market. Would I approve of it? Yes, I would approve of it.

Stephanie Sy:

Brian, is this appropriate? Should the U.S. be providing political refuge for politicians and influencers who may be trying to evade legal processes in their home countries?

Brian Winter:

Well, look, the Bolsonaro family has been among President Trump's closest allies in South America over the last 10 years. The only other sort of competition in that space is Javier Milei, the president of Argentina. The connections between the families are real.

There are figures like Steve Bannon and Jason Miller in President Trump's orbit who have made themselves specialists, let's say, on Brazilian politics over the last couple of years. So I see President Trump trying to accomplish two different objectives with these statements that he's made over the last couple of days.

One of them is trying to at least give some support to the Bolsonaro family, who he considers ideological fellow travelers. But I also interpret President Trump's statements as a clear effort to keep a bit of distance with the Bolsonaro family for two reasons, one, because the Bolsonaro family has now lost two consecutive elections in Brazil and may no longer be the future of conservative politics in Brazil.

And, two, because there's a big commercial and investment relationship between Brazil and the United States, the two biggest economies in the Western Hemisphere. President Trump has carefully noted that he has a good relationship with Lula and has said several times in recent days, he said, "I didn't take sides in this election."

Stephanie Sy:

All right, that is Brian Winter, editor in chief of "Americas Quarterly," joining us.

Thank you.

Brian Winter:

Thank you.