Former conservative presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro said on Friday that he fled Brazil to the United States because he was a victim of persecution in his own country, after losing the election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

According to ABC News, he left Brazil on Tuesday and arrived in Florida on a private jet on Wednesday, after traveling through Argentina and Ecuador. Bolsonaro recounted how police informed him on Monday that his passports would be revoked.