- Published
Defeated presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro has arrived in the US, hours after Brazil cancelled his passports, sources have told the BBC.
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sources → publish → BBC
The right-wing candidate left the country after its Supreme Court ordered that he surrender his passports amid an investigation into alleged money laundering.
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he → we → laundering
Bolsonaro has not been charged and has denied the allegations.
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Bolsonaro → charge → allegations
His passports were cancelled on Tuesday after he missed a deadline to hand them over to authorities, prompting widespread speculation that he may have left Brazil.
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he → cancel → Brazil
Sources told BBC Brazil and BBC Mundo that Bolsonaro met with his younger brother, Eduardo, in Florida - though his exact travel route from Brazil to the US is unclear.
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route → tell → US
His arrival in the US came hours after a senior US official confirmed the US State Department would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the country.
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Department → come → country
The BBC has contacted the White House, State Department and embassies in both the US and Brazil.
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BBC → contact → US
On Monday, Brazil's Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to hand his passports over to police within 24 hours as part of its alleged money laundering probe.
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Court → order → probe
At the time, Bolsonaro said he had no plans to leave the country, and insisted that he would stay in Brazil to lead the opposition to his left-wing rival, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who on Sunday won the election.
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who → say → election
After he missed the deadline, Bolsonaro's lawyers told BBC Brasil that they were "completely in the dark" about his whereabouts.
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they → miss → whereabouts
"We knew nothing about this, and we still have no information about what happened," one lawyer said.
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lawyer → know → information
Bolsonaro has not made any public statements since Monday afternoon local time, when he posted a video on social media.
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he → make → media
Federal officers checked border crossings to establish if Bolsonaro may have travelled to neighbouring Argentina, according to a police source consulted by BBC News Brasil.
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Bolsonaro → check → News
However, Argentine authorities told the BBC there was no record of the senator entering their country through any border crossing.
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senator → tell → crossing
Bolsonaro was already under investigation for alleged corruption over the financing of a film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting a coup and is under house arrest.
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who → convict → arrest
A separate inquiry involves alleged links to a Brazilian lawyer, who is accused of laundering more than $1bn through a fraud scheme.
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who → involve → scheme
Police said earlier this month they had discovered Mr Bolsonaro had access to the bank accounts of a company owned by the lawyer.
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Bolsonaro → say → lawyer
Bolsonaro denied doing business with the lawyer, and described the passport confiscation as an attempt to intimidate him.
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Bolsonaro → deny → him
In addition to that investigation, Brazil's Supreme Court ordered police on Tuesday to examine Flávio Bolsonaro's electoral campaign over alleged foreign funding.
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Court → order → funding
The 45-year-old senator suffered a stinging defeat on Sunday when he was beaten by Lula in a presidential run-off, which Bolsonaro had been widely expected to win.
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Bolsonaro → suffer → which
His younger brother Eduardo Bolsonaro lives in the Texas, in the US, but was in Miami on Sunday, where he cast his vote at a polling station and attended an election viewing event which was streamed to his followers.
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which → live → followers
Sources have confirmed to the BBC that Flávio has already met with his brother, Eduardo, in Florida, though details of his exact travel route from Brazil are unclear.
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details → confirm → Brazil
It's also unclear who travelled with him or whether Flávio Bolsonaro intends to stay and live in the US.
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Bolsonaro → travel → US
Opinion polls had put him narrowly ahead of Lula and analysts pointed out that Bolsonaro's win in the first round of the election on 4 October, meant he was likely to take victory in the run-off.
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he → put → off
But after an early lead in the count, he was overtaken by the veteran incumbent, who became the first presidential candidate to overturn a first round loss to win in the second round.
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who → overtake → round
Lula won 51.79% of the vote, compared to Bolsonaro's 48.21%.
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Lula → win → %
Despite trailing by 4.4 million votes, Bolsonaro has not conceded and has called for the election to be annulled.
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election → trail → votes
He argues that he was put at a disadvantage because polling was extended by two hours on election day - even though the extension was requested by both his party and that of his rival.
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extension → argue → rival
He called the extension, which was ordered by a Supreme Court justice, a "dirty trick".
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which → call → justice
However the party he represented, the Liberal Party, has accepted the result, although it did say that the extension of voting "merits investigation".
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extension → represent → investigation
Ayelén Oliva, Vinícius Mendes, Cecilia Barria Ricardo Senra and Ione Wells contributed to this report.
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Oliva → contribute → report
The Aporia
