The president of the right-wing Liberal Party (PL) of Brazil, Valdemar Costa Neto, told reporters on Thursday that former President Jair Bolsonaro was not aware of his son Flávio’s plan to leave the country.
Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro served as the PL’s candidate in the 2026 presidential election, winning the first round of voting but losing to incumbent socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the October 25 runoff election. The younger Bolsonaro initially said on Sunday that he would challenge the results of the election, citing an unprecedented situation in which a justice on the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) – who once served as Lula’s personal defense attorney – single-handedly ordered polls to stay open for an extra two hours after some had already closed. By Wednesday, however, Sen. Bolsonaro resurfaced in Miami, Florida, and later published a letter saying he would lead the Brazilian opposition from Florida.
Jair Bolsonaro served as president from 2018 to 2022, also losing to Lula in a close election the integrity of which was challenged by many conservatives. Following his election loss, the STF found Bolsonaro guilty of alleged “crimes against democracy” and sentenced him to 27 years in prison. Jair Bolsonaro was also banned from running for office until the year 2060 – when he will be 105 years old. Bolsonaro is serving the sentence under house arrest as a result of a variety of moderate to severe health complications.
The STF closely monitors Jair Bolsonaro’s guests; anyone visiting requires approval, and he is banned from issuing any public statements and making any online content. It is possible that if the elder Bolsonaro were found to have had any role in his son’s departure from the country – which occurred hours after the STF ordered Flávio to hand over his passports – it could impact his prison sentence or the terms of his house arrest.
Costa Neto, the president of the Bolsonaros’ political party, received approval from notoriously repressive STF Justice Alexandre de Moraes to visit Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday. Outside of the former president’s residence, he explained to reporters that Jair had no foreknowledge of Flávio’s departure.
“He did not speak to his father. He came to see his father. Not even Bolsonaro knew he was going,” Costa Neto was quoted as saying. He suggested Jair was displeased with recent developments.
“Nobody would be happy with the situation that Bolsonaro is in, and seeing his children in the situation they are,” Costa Neto said. In addition to Flávio, another son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, fled to the United States last year after the Lula government attempted to imprison him. His other two sons, Carlos and Renan, are currently members-elect of the Brazilian Congress.
Costa Neto also added that no one within the PL knew that the younger Bolsonaro was planning on leaving the country, and appeared to express some frustration with the situation, emphasizing that Jair Bolsonaro did not approve the controversial letter published by Flávio following his arrival in Florida.
“Flávio went through a difficult situation, we understand, but we do not approve,” Costa Neto reportedly said. “We want to push the party forward, that is our objective.”
Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro is facing three different investigations before the STF, echoing the persecution that his father faced. One of them accuses him of laundering money along with a friend, attorney Willer Tomaz; another is a corruption investigation into a the financing of a film about his father Jair called Dark Horse; and another is a defamation lawsuit for referring to Lula as corrupt. Lula was convicted in 2017 of corrupt acts, namely misappropriating public funds, that he engaged in during his first two terms as president, but the STF overturned the conviction on a technicality and has aggressively persecuted anyone mentioning Lula’s past in public.
As a result of these legal cases, Sen. Bolsonaro fled the country. In his letter, which he published three versions of with minor edits, he described the cases as a “politically motivated witch hunt” and denied any wrongdoing.
Critically for the PL, Sen. Bolsonaro insisted that he remained the leader of the conservative Brazilian opposition and that he would lead from Florida, rather than allow a prominent conservative in the country to take his place.
“I will lead the opposition from here. I will say what you, over there, cannot say, and will assume the risks that you cannot,” he wrote.
“I want to be clear: I did not flee Brazil, I left Brazil,” the letter emphasized.
Some prominent conservatives have since issued messages indicating that, contrary to Flávio Bolsonaro’s wishes, they will be taking on a leadership position in the movement. Among them is the popular governor of the state of Sao Paulo, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, who published a video declaring that it is time to move on from the presidential election.
“The election has passed. Brazil continues,” he declared in the video, vowing strong policies on crime, limiting government spending, and appointing competent people to state government.” He insisted that he recognized Lula’s victory, but “recognizing the results does not mean staying silent about excesses.”
Tarcísio stated publicly that he could see himself running for president in 2030, after stepping aside for Flávio Bolsonaro in 2026 – a suggestion that the Brazilian newspaper O Globo claimed to have upset some in Sen. Bolsonaro’s inner circle. A senior PL leader, however, told the newspaper that Tarcísio was the “uncontested leader” of the right in Brazil.
“He governs the biggest state in the country, was reelected, got two senators on his ticket and most of the federal and state tickets in Sao Paulo elected,” Sen. Eduardo Gomes, the vice president of the Senate, said. “He is a politician with a different profile, but he has the respect of political forces, just as other governors who were reelected and will have a new political path.”
Another prominent conservative governor is Paraná Gov. Sergio Moro, who many consider a national hero for being the judge who presided over the “Operation Car Wash” corruption investigation that ultimately jailed Lula. Moro served as Jair Bolsonaro’s minister of justice for a short time until departing in 2020, after a falling-out in which he accused Bolsonaro of being insufficiently tough on corruption. Moro published his own video urging Brazilian voters to move on from the election.
“I know that the majority of the people of Paraná were disappointed with the results of the presidential election. Me too. There were 62 percent of votes in Paraná against Lula,” he said. “Paraná will be our strength, a land of liberty where we will construct opportunities for all its people … we are full speed ahead in the construction of our government.”
Sen. Gomes named Moro as one of many promising governors who could help lead conservatives past the election chaos.
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