Flávio Bolsonaro: "I'll take it to my grave" how he fled Brazil to the US
The Brazilian senator denied receiving government assistance for his flight to the US, but admitted that his ultimate destination will be "imprisonment".
Bolsonaro's son remains silent on his flight to Miami and anticipates his imprisonment
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro refused to reveal how he managed to leave Brazil and reach the United States. "I'll take it to my grave," he declared in an interview with The New York Times published this Thursday, according to El Deber. It was his first public appearance since he fled the country following his father's defeat in the second round of presidential elections against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The son of former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2022) categorically denied receiving support from "absolutely nobody, from no government". He described the decision as "spontaneous", taken together with his wife. He acknowledged that his contacts abroad may have "encouraged" him, but added that that was "nothing more".
However, the NYT published in a separate article that the aircraft that transported Bolsonaro to Miami was managed by a White House official, and that his entry into United States territory was authorised directly by President Donald Trump, according to US sources. The newspaper also noted that one of the principal advisers to Argentine President Javier Milei received him at an airport in Puerto Iguazú, according to three people involved in the operation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for his part, denied that Washington had facilitated Bolsonaro's departure from Brazil.
In the interview, the senator recounted that he made the decision the morning after the elections, as he was leaving the residential area where his father is under house arrest for attempted coup d'état. According to his account, Jair Bolsonaro looked at him and said: "You know where they want to take this, don't you?". Flávio responded that he was "prepared" and that he knew "what he had to do", although neither explicitly mentioned the idea of fleeing.
Flávio Bolsonaro defended his innocence regarding the investigations he faces for money laundering and corruption, but admitted that his ultimate destination will be "imprisonment". He reiterated his "suspicions" about the electoral scrutiny, which he describes as "mathematically impossible", and thanked Trump for not taking sides and for allowing him to remain on United States soil. "If there are new elections, obviously I will be a candidate again," he asserted.
Source: El Deber