By Mateo Bueno Sá
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday (Oct. 31) that the American government did not organize Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro's departure from Brazil, but that President Donald Trump personally cleared the senator to enter the United States. Rubio spoke at a press conference in Atlanta ahead of a G20 meeting. The remarks also drew attention on the X account @NewsLiberdade.
What Rubio said about Flávio Bolsonaro's entry
According to the Brazilian outlet Itatiaia, Rubio was asked whether Washington had helped Flávio leave Brazil. His answer was blunt: “We did not facilitate anything.”
According to Metrópoles, cited by Brasil 247, the top U.S. diplomat explained that the United States learned of Flávio's arrival and allowed him in because he already held a valid visa.
Itatiaia quoted Rubio as saying: “We were not involved in any of the arrangements for him to leave the country. At least the United States government was not directly involved in any of the moves that were made.”
The secretary also described Trump's role. According to Itatiaia, Rubio said that “the president made clear that he would be given authorization to enter at any airport, and he was.” In other words, the door was open, and the U.S. president himself decided that.
The central point of Rubio's statement is that Flávio entered the United States with a valid visa and with President Trump's authorization. None of the reports indicates any irregularity in the senator's entry.
Questions left unanswered
According to Brasil 247, Rubio did not say who organized the trip, what procedures were used to leave Brazil, or whether members of the U.S. government had contact with Flávio's representatives before his arrival. The site also noted that Rubio's caveat that the U.S. was not involved “directly” does not clarify whether third parties took part indirectly. That is the outlet's observation, not a proven conclusion.
The topic is expected to stay in debate, putting pressure on both the White House and Flávio's circle to explain what happened behind the scenes. It remains to be seen whether new details about the arrangements will become public, and how the senator intends to act politically from the United States.
Why it matters
Flávio Bolsonaro is a senator for Rio de Janeiro state from the Liberal Party (PL), the party of his father, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's president from 2019 to 2022. He ran against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of the Workers' Party (PT), in the election, and Lula was reelected.
On Friday (Oct. 30), Flávio held a live stream on social media, his first public statement since arriving in the United States. According to Itatiaia, he described the moment he decided to leave Brazil and said he “lost to the system, not to the opponent.”
VDD Analysis
The left is trying to turn the trip of a senator with a valid visa into a “flight” storyline, while the Lula government celebrates its win at the polls and avoids talking about the problems the country still faces. Rubio's statement shows only that the entry was legal and had the backing of the U.S. president. Anyone who wants to see more than that needs to present evidence, not insinuations.
