Overview
- Brazil’s electoral authority confirmed Lula won the presidential runoff with 51.8% of the vote to Flávio Bolsonaro’s 48.2% in Sunday’s election.
- A Supreme Court judge ordered Bolsonaro on Monday to surrender his passports and barred him from leaving Brazil as part of ongoing money‑laundering and corruption investigations.
- Reports from Argentine, Brazilian and U.S. media say Bolsonaro crossed into Argentina by land, traveled via Ecuador and landed in Miami on Wednesday, and the U.S. State Department confirmed it will issue visas to him and his family.
- Brazilian federal police and prosecutors are probing alleged money laundering, suspicious transfers tied to the film 'Dark Horse' and links to a lawyer’s bank account, and the judiciary is now weighing legal steps after his reported departure.
- Bolsonaro’s flight increases political uncertainty by removing a leading opposition figure, leaves Lula to govern with a strengthened conservative Congress and could strain U.S.‑Brazil cooperation on legal matters and extradition.