Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro said he arranged his trip to the United States himself but declined to explain how he traveled. (Foto: Instagram)
In his first interview since leaving Brazil, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro offered few details about how he reached the United States. Speaking to The New York Times, he said he arranged the trip himself and denied receiving help from any government. “It was all my doing,” he said. “No one helped me at all—not any government.”
Asked how he got to the United States, Bolsonaro said he would not disclose the details. “How I got here,” he added, “I’ll take that to my grave.” He also said his decision to leave Brazil was spontaneous and that no one directly took part in organizing the trip. “There may have been people cheering me on, but nothing more,” he said.
That account contrasts with a statement by Jason Miller, a White House communications aide and ally of President Donald Trump. The previous week, Miller confirmed that he arranged the private jet used by Bolsonaro and his family to leave Brazil. Bolsonaro’s denial was specifically that he received help from a government; he maintained that he organized the trip himself and did not identify who, if anyone, assisted with arrangements.
Bolsonaro, his wife, Fernanda Bolsonaro, and their two daughters entered the United States through a process known as parole, which allows foreign nationals to remain in the country temporarily in certain circumstances, including urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. Trump publicly confirmed that he had authorized the senator’s entry. The report did not provide further details about the authorization or the terms of the family’s parole.
The family arrived in the United States on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 28, after traveling from Argentina by private aircraft. The flight stopped in Guayaquil, Ecuador, before continuing to Miami, where it landed at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport. Before reaching the U.S., Bolsonaro crossed from Brazil into Argentina at the Tancredo Neves International Bridge in Misiones. Argentina’s National Directorate of Migration said he entered at 10:50 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and left the country about 40 minutes later.
According to the Argentine agency, all four family members presented valid travel documents and had no legal impediments to entering Argentina. They then boarded a private flight operated by Baires Fly bound for Ecuador. The trip took place after Brazil’s Federal Police requested that Bolsonaro surrender his passport. Brazilian authorities are investigating his departure from the country.
