Flávio Bolsonaro reportedly leaves Brazil for US after election defeat

Flávio Bolsonaro has left Brazil for the United States following his defeat in Sunday's presidential election, according to multiple media reports.

Bolsonaro's departure was confirmed to CNN and Reuters by US officials and to the Brazilian newspaper "Folha de São Paulo" by allies of the Bolsonaro family. The US State Department has reportedly said it would issue visas to him and his family.

The former presidential candidate is expected to arrive in the United States in the coming hours. According to Brazilian news outlet Metrópoles, his destination is Miami. He is reportedly travelling with his wife and two daughters.

Bolsonaro's passports were cancelled on Tuesday after Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had ordered Bolsonaro to hand over his passports to Brazilian Federal Police (PF) in the wake of his election defeat to leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva over the weekend.

Bolsonaro agreed with his legal team that he would comply with the order and that he would deliver the documents to authorities on Tuesday morning, but he had failed to do so by Tuesday afternoon.

A police source told the AFP news agency that Bolsonaro's passports had now been "cancelled" and confirmed that there was "no formal record" of him leaving the country.

It comes after Argentine outlet Infobae reported that the son of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro had arrived in the Argentine town of Puerto Iguazú at 2 am on Tuesday, using his national identity card. He was reportedly preparing to continue on to the United States on a private flight.

According to Infobae, the aircraft was a Gulfstream G400, registration LV-JQW, owned by the company Baires Fly SA, which requested customs clearance for four passengers and three crew members.

The plane left Buenos Aires for Puerto Iguazú on Monday at 10:20 pm.

Since early Tuesday morning, Bolsonaro's allies have been trying to contact him, without success, according to Letícia Casado, a columnist for the UOL news website.

Euronews has contacted the PF for comment.

Rogério Marinho, Bolsonaro's general campaign coordinator, has denied that Bolsonaro has left Brazil.

Argentina's government has also rejected the claims.