Bolsonaro leaves Brazil for US after losing to Lula

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has left the country for the United States after losing Sunday’s presidential election, three sources said, with the US State Department due to grant him and his family entry visas. Bolsonaro, who has yet to concede to leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left Brazil after refusing to comply with a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports. The ruling relates to a money laundering probe in which he denies wrongdoing. The location of Flavio, his wife and two daughters was not immediately clear. One source close to the family said Flavio had landed in Florida, but declined to say where. “The State Department will issue visas to Flavio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the United States,” a senior State Department official said.

Bolsonaro’s departure deepens Brazil-US tensions Bolsonaro’s departure threatens to deepen a rift between the two most populous nations in the Americas. Lula has accused Washington of colluding with the Bolsonaros to put them back in power, and Reuters reported ahead of Sunday’s election on a US State Department campaign to restore them to office. US President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he would approve of Flavio Bolsonaro coming to the United States. “Well, I would approve. I think they’re fine people. The election was very strange, and I thought it was terrible. It’s gotten bad reviews. You look at what happened to their market”, Trump said. “I think it’s so terrible to see it. I didn’t take sides, you know. I know them both. I know Lula. I know Flavio a little bit. I know the father very well. The father was treated really badly. I thought, but I wasn’t involved. That’s Brazil. It’s a different country”, he said. Trump has previously alleged Flavio’s father,…