JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
This morning, Brazilians were glued to their screens watching a private plane land at an airport in Miami, Florida. Moments later, the man who had just lost Brazil's presidential election, Flávio Bolsonaro, stepped out onto the tarmac. His arrival capped three days of political drama since his stunning defeat to incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. NPR South America correspondent Carrie Kahn is on the line now. Hey, Carrie.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Hi.
SUMMERS: So, Carrie, I want to make sure I understand this correctly. Bolsonaro lost Sunday's election, and by Wednesday, he was in the U.S.?
KAHN: Yes, it's been a wild ride the past three days. On Sunday, he refused to concede the election and said he would petition to annul the results. The next day, his party did accept the results. And in a video, Bolsonaro seemed to back down a bit but added that federal police demanded his passport after he was visiting his father, who is under house arrest for attempting to overturn his own electoral loss to Lula four years ago. By Tuesday - yesterday - rumors were flying that Bolsonaro had fled Brazil, and today he arrived in Miami and then later put out a statement first declaring himself as, quote, "the true elected president of Brazil." Then a bit later, he posted a new statement downgrading himself to the true elected leader of Brazil. He compared himself to liberation figures like Charles de Gaulle and María Corina Machado of Venezuela, amongst others.
SUMMERS: Interesting. OK, lots of questions here. One is this - do we know how he managed to leave Brazil and get to the U.S.?
KAHN: Argentine officials reported he crossed into the country last night, but Brazilian officials say they have no record of him crossing. Bolsonaro also has an Italian passport. From Argentina, he flew to Ecuador and then on to Miami. And in his letter today, he thanked Argentina's president, Javier Milei, for his support. And Milei is a far-right ally of Bolsonaro and Trump. And like Trump, Milei has still not recognized Brazil's election results. Trump was asked just a little while ago what he thought of Bolsonaro declaring himself leader of Brazil. Trump said he wasn't going to comment on that.
SUMMERS: Got it. Why did Brazil's federal police revoke his passport?
KAHN: That order came from a Supreme Court justice who said Bolsonaro was a flight risk because he's facing several investigations, and that justice oversaw the case against Bolsonaro's father, Jair. In his letter today, Flávio said that Brazil's judiciary has been, quote, "weaponized" against his entire family. The cases against Bolsonaro include a money laundering scheme tied to online gambling. Another involves questionable financing of a biopic about his father. Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing.
SUMMERS: And people in Brazil, what have they had to say about his sudden departure?
KAHN: As you can imagine, the country has been captivated. You know, look, the election was decisive for Lula, but nearly 60 million people voted for Bolsonaro and his conservative movement. I spoke with Fábio Zanini, a political columnist with Folha, a newspaper in São Paulo, who says Flávio's departure could help that movement.
FÁBIO ZANINI: Flávio will be in the United States now, close to the Trump administration, attacking Brazil, saying that he's a persecuted person and trying to portray himself as a victim of Brazilian persecution. That might give a new energy to the Bolsonarista movement.
KAHN: Many also say that claims of election tampering and political persecution are pretty hollow because Bolsonaro's party did make huge gains throughout the country. His stepmother and his brother were elected senators, and the party has now the largest majority in Congress.
SUMMERS: NPR's Carrie Kahn, thank you.
KAHN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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